Secrets
by PhantomTigre
Summary: Ginny questions her sexuality, Hermione tries to lock hers away. The two are inevitably drawn to each other and chaos ensues. Slash.
1. Why Me?

**A/N: I think this takes place in Ginny's fifth year. Just forget about Voldemort. Pretend you've only read up to the fourth book. Ignore all the facts I get wrong. Enjoy the story. **

"Move over, you're squishing me," Ginny said to her older brother Ron. The whole family had gone to a Quidditch game between two local teams. The stadium was only as big as the one at Hogwarts, except with bleachers at normal height, so as not to attract attention from Muggles, who used to same stadium for soccer games. To make up for the lowness the main part of the play was magically enlarged like a 3-D television on the floor of the stadium.

Harry and Hermione were visiting, as they normally did in the last week of summer vacation. The four of them sat in the highest row squinting in the bright sunlight at the enlargement and occasionally glancing up at the sky to see what the actual players were doing.

"The snitch, I saw it!" Harry said eagerly, his head craned up at the sky. Everyone looked up quickly but of course, the snitch was out of site. The Gladetown Gators' seeker though, almost seconds after Harry said this, must have spotted the snitch too though, for he stooped into a dive and the enlargement switched over to focus on her.

"She's hot," Ginny commented absentmindedly. Ron and Harry nodded then Ron glanced at his sister with a funny look.

"Don't say stuff like that, it's weird for a girl to say that," Ron said then looked back at the field.

"Sorry," Ginny said and wished she'd kept her mouth shut. Most of the time she just said whatever happened to pop into her head, but she'd have to remember to not let everything out. The seeker _was _very beautiful though. Rather than wearing the traditional Quidditch garb most of the team members were wearing muggle clothing. With heat like this though, no one could blame them. She had on a white shirt with the team's logo emblazoned on the front, with the sleeves cut off to reveal finely tanned arms with sleek muscle. Her long brown hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail, though with all the wind several strands had escaped and were streaming backwards, dancing happily around. Her face was set with a determined look, her lips pursed, as she pushed her broom faster after the snitch. The wind pushed her shirt against her, revealing a very nice body.

Ginny glanced at Harry and Ron who seemed to be following Ginny's thoughts on the looks of the Seeker. Hermione seemed to disapprove of this though, purposefully looking away from the seeker and making a face at Harry and Ron's unabashed staring.

"What?" Harry asked noticing Hermione's look.

"Nothing," she said and glanced away, back towards the field.

"Catch it, catch it," Ginny said willfully. Moments later the image showed the seeker holding the snitch triumphantly in her hand.

"She's good," Hermione commented.

"Mm," Harry agreed.

A while later they were all stuffed into the car and back at the Burrow. They all clambered out and headed into the house. Harry and Ron went and grabbed brooms to go and play their own game of Quidditch while Hermione followed after them leaving Ginny alone.

With a slight sigh she headed over to the hammock that was stretched between two trees in the backyard, planning on doing some drawing. Laying down in it her thoughts started to wander. She'd never really found boys physically attractive, sure it was fun to hang out with them, poke them, tease them. But when it came to the more than brotherly hugging and kissing, Ginny still found it gross. Like when your parents tell you you'll like it when you're older, when you're five your old self said "ew'. Except for Ginny, it had never stopped being gross. Gross to imagine herself kissing someone at least. Seeing other people kiss didn't make her feel like blowing chunks, it was just kissing. But the thought of actually kissing a guy wasn't that appealing to her.

These kind of thoughts had started in her second year, around when she realized she didn't have a crush on Harry, and when she'd hit puberty. The thing is though, all your friends ask, who do you like? So you go and sort through all the guys and choose the one that seems the nicest or cutest. And that, apparently, is who you have a crush on. But, there's no feelings there. It was, as one of her friends explained a 3/3 thing. In order to go out with someone it was best if you were, physically, emotionally, and sexually attracted to them. Or at least have one a whole lot and a little of the others. Friends, most of the time, you're emotionally attracted to them. Ginny had never really felt like that for anyone. She didn't find guys in general any of the 3/3. Most of them weren't that mature, or attractive. Girls, on the other hand….

Maybe she was a lesbian, but then what? What was she supposed to do about that? There weren't any gay people at Hogwarts. She was pretty sure her family or anyone she knew wouldn't approve of that. But, maybe she hadn't just met the right guy. And there continues the loop of her thoughts.

_Why me,_ she wondered, _Why can't I just be normal? Why do I have these thoughts, these feelings?_

Sitting up Ginny purposefully got out of the hammock, determined to not think about it. Walking through the brief spit of trees she saw that Hermione had found a broom as well and was playing Quidditch with Harry and Ron. Ginny smiled seeing that Hermione wasn't very good.

She looked like she was enjoying herself though. She'd pulled her puff of hair back into a ponytail in an attempt to control it and was flying determinedly through the air. She looked quite glorious actually. Ginny blinked then turned away. She'd sworn to herself that she wouldn't think like that, and especially not about Hermione. Every since her second year, well it must have been her first year. Ever since Ron had become friends with Hermione, Ginny had admired her, become friends with her, thought that she must be the most amazing person ever. Fun, beautiful, smart… Ginny didn't even want to think about the kind of dreams her mind had made up, and not just with Hermione either, random girls, girls from books, a girls she saw in Diagon Alley…

Ginny pinched herself and slammed down a wall between her normal self and these other thoughts.


	2. Ginny

**A/N: Sorry that this chapter is so short. I switched between Ginny and Hermione's POV for each event and decided that the chapters start/end could be where the POV changed. So the length is going to vary a lot more than normal, but I can promise this is gonna be the shortest chapter. :-) **

Hermione leaned to the side moving the broom is low circles around the field. She could see Ginny sitting back near the burrow in the hammock, buried in her thoughts. She sometimes wondered if Ginny was doing okay. Most of the time she seemed bright and happy, but other times, like this, Ginny seemed as if she felt rather lost.

Ron often dismissed Ginny as being anything special, mainly because she was his little sister but to Hermione Ginny was a lot more than that, Ginny was her friend. And sometimes, Hermione worried about her. Ron and Harry could be rather dense sometimes. They were fun most of the time, but boys were boys.

The two boys Hermione's thoughts were on at the time had lost track of the rules of the game and started playing plain old one on one with the quaffle. That was fine with Hermione; she was content to simply glide around. Ginny was holding a sketchbook but as usual when Ginny thought no one was watching, she seemed to be having deep debates with herself.

Ginny was such a strong brave girl. Ron would forever think of her as the little baby sister, but Ginny was far from being a baby or being weak. Being saved by Harry hadn't really helped her image much though. Hermione, being a girl, felt she knew who Ginny really was, and admired that. Hermione's own talent came from books; came from trying hard to get those talents. Ginny seemed to have natural talents, drawing and artistic things came easily along with other things like flying. Hermione had never had anything come easy to her, except perhaps trying hard to get things to come easily.

Neville suddenly popped into her head and Hermione wondered if Ginny was still involved with him in any way. They'd seemed pretty close at the Yule Ball, but who knew? Somehow Hermione felt that Ginny could do better than Neville, Neville, was just, well, Neville. Ginny could probably have snagged any boy she wanted if she tried a little. Boys didn't seem to be very interesting in Hermione, aside from Krum for some reason, but Hermione was okay with that. Boys weren't interested in her; she wasn't too interested in boys. She'd rather spend her school days learning and going on to become an accomplished witch.


	3. Back To School

**A/N: Well here's chapter three! And its not horribly short either. Thanks to: Snowbear, Moony's-Wolf, California smells funny, LunaML, and Missa05 for reviewing the last chapter!  
**

The first day of school sprang up suddenly on everyone and before Ginny knew it she was climbing out of the horseless carriages with Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Luna and walking up to the castle. It was a clear night and cool for September but not so much that anyone noticed. The moon was full and shining down brightly on the castle, enough so that it was bright enough to see everything. The trees across the lake in the Forbidden Forest stood out distinguished from one another, casting eerie reflections on the silvery water. Ginny imagined she could see the giant squid's tentacles playing across the surface before the rush of students forced her to keep moving.

Dumbledore started out the feast by announcing that this year as a festive idea, Professor McGonagall's in fact, they'd be having several holiday balls including Halloween, New Year's, Valentine's Day, and Spring. Pretty much everyone clapped at this statement, the only ones who hadn't enjoyed last years Yule Ball were Harry and Ron. Ginny had been lucky enough to attend by Neville's invitation, though after that Neville seemed to be getting ideas about the two of them and it had taken Ginny some sneaking work to avoid him. She had enjoyed seeing Hermione though, it was that moment that it really hit how grown up and gorgeous Hermione really was. That moment that she accepted that perhaps her feelings for Hermione were more than sisterly.

"Think I should try out for the Quidditch team?" Ginny asked twirling her skirt around. It went all the way down to her feet and was made of light cotton, sewn in a peasant style.

"Mm," Hermione said from her spot underneath a tree where she was shuffling through books.

"Only the first week of school and you're already stuffing your brain," Ginny smiled walking over and sitting down next to Hermione. Hermione looked up from her book and glanced at Ginny scanning her bare feet to her skirt to her easy cross-legged position. She smiled and shook her head.

"What?" Ginny asked with a grin.

"You wear a pretty little skirt and bare feet then talk to me about trying out for the Quidditch and sit down haphazardly in the grass, if that skirt was just a few inches shorter any boy walking past could see your underwear," Hermione explained.

Ginny blushed and replied, "That's why it's a long skirt so I can still move around however I want. Boys can stare all they want, they're not getting anything."

Hermione looked up again and with a funny little smile on her face as if she was about to ask a question but then she looked back at her book.

"What are you studying anyway?" Ginny asked scooting over next to Hermione and putting her chin on Hermione's shoulder.

"Advanced Transfiguration," Hermione explained.

"Hm," Ginny said resting her cheek against Hermione's shoulder and closing her eyes; making a mental note to not get too comfortable. Hermione is a friend.

Hermione looked up after a minute shutting the book hard, "I'm really hot, let's go swimming."

"It's only 80 or so out," Ginny said leaning back and trying to brush the newly acquired grass stains off the skirt.

Hermione shrugged and stood up giving Ginny a hand to pull the other girl up as well. The sun was bright making it feel a few degrees warmer if you were in the sunlight, underneath the shade of the tree though it was actually a quite comfortable temperature.

"I have a report I need to do," Hermione told Ginny, "Sorry, just remembered."

"That's okay," Ginny said though it felt like Hermione suddenly didn't want to be around her.

"Potions," Hermione explained. An idea popped in Ginny's head suddenly.

"Snape is so gay," Ginny said using the word in a derogative way, frowning as well.

Hermione snorted, "Gay means happy, not stupid."

Ginny's heart lifted a little bit, she'd read somewhere that people who use gay freely to describe things they don't like tend to be homophobes or just ignorant. Then again, Hermione was known to kill illiterates. She'd heard Harry and Ron use it like that which gave her second thoughts about talking to any family members about sexuality issues, but maybe she could talk to Hermione.

Though this idea floated around in Ginny's head for a while it wasn't until a few weeks later that she got the opportunity to. It seemed like Hermione was either busy or hanging out with Harry and Ron; which often made her feel small and insignificant. What if Hermione didn't even think of her as a friend and just her friend's little sister. Ginny admired Hermione, looked up to Hermione, and really liked Hermione. Only as a friend though, Ginny reminded herself. She just wanted to talk about sexuality stuff to get it out of her system. Talking about it would let it go, let these crazy thoughts out of her head. These crazy dreams of girls, though thankfully none about Hermione while she'd been at Hogwarts. Her classes were starting to swamp her now that they were about a month into the school year. It was her fifth year and classes now had more variety and more difficulty.


	4. Ron?

**A/N: This chapter is dedicated to: angel-1844, LunaML, s3xy-Lady, SoulAstray, theinfamousredflag, and Snowbear. Thanks for your reviews!**

Hermione hit the books fiercely when the school year hit. She was determined to score high on all of the end of the year tests, and slacking off in the beginning of the school year wouldn't help. Ginny seemed convinced though that they should try to salvage the last month of warmth despite the fact that school had started. School was something that also came fairly easily to Ginny though Ginny would never admit it. Hermione knew that there were tests she didn't study for at all yet still aced. Ron and Harry never studied either and almost flunked. Hermione on the other hand, studied very hard, and yes, got the highest score, but she would have done just as badly as Ron and Harry if she hadn't.

Ginny had managed to drag Hermione to do her studying outside which led Hermione's thoughts back to yesterday; yesterday which had brought back a few thoughts that Hermione had tried to cover up. Thoughts that- Hermione promptly jumped on these thoughts and turned her focus back to the large book in her lap. Ginny wasn't outside with her today, but had said she'd come outside later. So when Hermione heard footsteps behind her it was Ginny she expected.

"I was starting to wonder what was taking you so long," Hermione said not looking up.

"You were expecting me?" Hermione heard Ron ask.

Hermione jerked her head around and saw the older brother of the girl Hermione had been hoping to see.

"Oh, no," Hermione said quickly feeling her face heat up a little for some reason.

Ron sat down next to her and tried to look at the cover of the book before sort of realizing it looked like he was looking up her skirt.

"Advanced Transfiguration," Hermione said with a smile holding the book up for Ron to see.

"Studying, you must be crazy," Ron said with a lopsided smile.

"Crazy perhaps, but smart," Hermione explained, "This is why I don't have to bull shit my assignments."

"I don't bull shit my assignments!" Ron protested leaning closer as if to scan over the text. Hermione scooted away a little bit.

"I don't think you'd be interested in this," she told him lightly.

"How do you know I'm not interested in you?" he asked then coughed and blushed furiously and quickly corrected himself, "The book I mean. Interested in the book."

Hermione laughed but the air between them had gone uncomfortable she glanced at him meeting his eyes briefly and was startled at what she saw in them. Gods, what if Ron actually did like her?

"So what brings you down here?" Hermione asked, "Aren't you normally playing Quidditch with Harry around now?"

"I was just wondering what you were up to," he explained, "I feel like Harry and I have sort of been leaving you out. It doesn't seem as we're as close as we used to."

"Really?" Hermione asked, "Don't worry Ron, you and Harry will always be my best friends. And besides, I've been hanging out with Ginny."

Ron made a face.

"What, can't I have any friends that are female?" Hermione asked, "Or is it just because she's your little sister?"

Ron shrugged, "I don't mind **you** hanging out with my little sis', its just that **I **don't like hanging out with her all the time."

"Oh Ron, don't be so immature," Hermione scolded him, "You should be old enough by now to be able to hang out with your siblings in a civil way."

"She's my sister!" Ron protested. Hermione slapped the air in front of his face with a smile.

"Well, even if YOU aren't busy I am," Hermione said opening her book again and scanning over the text to try and find her spot.

"Oh, okay," Ron said sounding a little disappointed.

"Why don't we play chess or something this evening?" Hermione asked sensing this and feeling a little guilty for being so harsh to him. What had gotten into her lately? Maybe Ginny was affecting her in ways she hadn't noticed. Jesus, she really hadn't been spending that much time with them. Being with Ginny was somehow more fulfilling than with two boys.


	5. Being Gay Is Wrong

**A/N: I'd like to dedicate this chapter to: Snowbear, just like luna, CarbonCatalyst, Risifrutti, and s3xy-Lady. Enjoy!**

The chance to talk to Hermione came one Saturday morning when Ginny and Hermione both slept in and were the only ones in the girl's dormitory. It must have been 11 or so when she finally got up. Hermione was in the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her when Ginny stumbled in. Ginny blushed and looked away shoving away the feelings ignited in her.

"Morning Ginny," Hermione said brightly.

"Morning 'mione," Ginny said trying not to study Hermione's figure.

"Slept in some did you?" Hermione asked walking towards the door.

Ginny nodded and after getting a drink of water to wake herself up followed Hermione in the sixth year's room. Hermione had started saying something about Quidditch. Ginny flopped down on Hermione's bed closing her eyes against the sun shining in.

"How late did you stay up?" Hermione asked stepping behind a curtain to change into her robes.

"Dunno, 3?" Ginny told her.

"Jeez," Hermione said walking over and flopping onto the bed next to Ginny.

"Yeah, couldn't sleep," Ginny explained, "My brain was just buzzing."

"About what?" Hermione asked rolling onto her side and propping herself up on her elbow.

"Oh you know," Ginny said vaguely.

"New crush?" Hermione asked with a teasing grin. Ginny blushed and shook her head. They were both silent for a few minutes; Ginny studied the folds in the blanket of the bed, looking anywhere but at Hermione.

"Can I ask you something?" Ginny questioned glancing at Hermione.

"Sure," Hermione said.

"Have you ever wondered about your sexuality?" Ginny asked holding her breath.

"My sexuality?" Hermione replied her face suddenly uncomfortable.

"Like if you might be bisexual or a lesbian," Ginny explained.

"No," Hermione said quickly in disgust.

"Oh," Ginny said wishing she hadn't said anything at all.

"Have you?" Hermione inquired.

"I, uh, no," Ginny said stumbling over her words.

"It's not right, it's wrong. It's not normal," Hermione told Ginny, obviously not believing her, each word stinging like the slap of a whip.

"Why?" Ginny asked.

"Why? Because it's not natural that's why," Hermione said standing up from the bed and walking over to the window. Ginny sat up and put her legs over the side of the bed.

"Smoking isn't natural either and people still do it," Ginny countered.

"And guess what? Smoking is bad for you," Hermione retorted.

"There are animals that are gay," Ginny told Hermione hoping that maybe Hermione could just see.

"But we're not animals, we're humans. Animals rape each other too Gin," Hermione said. Ginny couldn't think of a come back. This was even worse than she'd imagined.

"So you're a lesbian then?" Hermione asked still facing the window. Ginny sensed anger and pain in her tone of voice, but she couldn't see Hermione face to know what Hermione was really thinking.

"No," Ginny said quickly, too quickly, "I was just wondering. I don't think being gay is wrong is all."

"Well it is, I don't know how you got that notion into your head but you'd do best to forget about it," Hermione said, "Anyone catches you talking about or doing gay stuff they'll hurt you. Hogwarts is not a gay friendly environment."

"How do you know?" Ginny asked starting to feel angry herself now.

"There's been people who claimed to be gay here before," Hermione said turning around her face less angry than Ginny had imagined. Ginny bit her lip worriedly.

"Gin, lots of teenagers question their sexuality but it's not real, its just I don't know, hormonal stuff and ideas put into your head. You probably haven't met the right boy yet. Being gay is not okay, it's wrong and weird and gross," Hermione said her eyes staring out the window again. Her voice sounded almost as if she was talking to someone other than Ginny. Then she glanced over at Ginny again, "What about Harry? I thought you liked him?"

Ginny scoffed angrily, "Harry? Lord and Lady, I only thought I liked him in my first year of Hogwarts. I was dazzled by his famous status; I know you were at first too."

"I was not," Hermione denied vehemently.

"Oh sure," Ginny retorted sarcastically.

"Great, I try and help put your thoughts on the right track and you get angry at me," Hermione said her voice getting louder.

"You try and control me and tell me my ideas are worthless and wrong and I've been influenced by stupid people's ideas," Ginny corrected her, her own voice growing louder too.

"Fine, you know what? Be gay if you want to be," Hermione said storming towards the door then turning to face Ginny, "But don't come crawling back to me when you get the same response from other people except worse!"

Ginny didn't get a chance to reply as Hermione slammed the door behind her.

"Fuck," Ginny said under breath then stood up and kicked the bed hard before storming out of the room and into her own room.


	6. Worst Day Ever

**A/N: I'd like to dedicate this chapter to: ****invisible cappucino conspiracy, Padfoot Reincarnated, Snowbear, Weird-ish, SoulAstray, Missa05, TonksFan693**

Hermione sat at the end of the dock, she'd taken off her shoes and was kicking at the water furiously trying to let go of the anger she felt towards herself and towards Ginny. Why did Ginny have to bring up that subject, of all subjects, today? Why couldn't Ginny have wanted to talk about boys or school work, something simple?

Ginny's simple questions had pulled forth thoughts that Hermione had spent many years burying and trying to hide. Thoughts that she'd never mentioned to anyone, never even written down in a journal. To be gay, was to go to hell. She'd known and believed that ever since she was little; ever since she'd been old enough to actually pay a little attention in church and Sunday school. Her parents were both Catholic and Hermione had easily slipped into the religion, following in her parents footsteps. When her mother frowned at two young men kissing on a park bench Hermione frowned at it as well. When her mother spoke derogatorily of it later to her father Hermione absorbed every word.

And now Hermione felt the torrent of confusion and pain resurfacing as if she had never shoved it away. It must have been four years since she'd last had thoughts along this subject line. It would probably take more than few months to cut these thoughts away from her again. And it was all Ginny's fault. Hermione hated that she'd been so harsh to the younger girl but knew that if she hadn't Ginny's ideas would have kept growing. And the anger she'd felt towards Ginny in those moments had been real. It was wrong to even think about that sort of thing. It was wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, Hermione chanted to herself in beat with the kicking of her feet and splash of the water.

With a sigh she stood up and picked up her shoes walking carefully so as to not get any splinters. Back inside the castle, her feet dried by the grass, she pulled her shoes back on and headed into the library. Homework and studying was the cure for any form of unhappiness or stress and Hermione planned to spend several hours here at least.

"Hermione?" Ron again.

"What!" she snapped.

"Whoa," Ron said holding up his hands.

"Sorry, just having some female hormonal problems," Hermione said and realized that that actually fit even though she'd meant for Ron to think she was talking about PMS or menstrual cramps.

"Oh," Ron said immediately uncomfortable. Talk about anything referencing to sex and periods and boys got all uncomfortable.

"So what brings you to the library?" Hermione asked.

"I was wondering if you could help me study," Ron said tentatively.

"Oh, um, sure," Hermione said caught a little off balance. Ron, study? The two words hardly seemed to mix. Perhaps she was being unfair, at least Ron wasn't asking to copy her homework like he and Harry often seemed to do.

Ron did a better job at paying attention than Hermione had expected and she convinced him to check out two books on Potions, the subject of his worries. Back in the common room Harry and Ginny were involved in an avid conversation about Quidditch.

Ginny shut up seeing Hermione enter the room and Hermione frowned at her, her face turning steely as she glanced at the ceiling. Ginny, thinking about her brought up a fresh rush of anger and emotion.

"I have to go," Hermione heard Ginny say to Harry then the younger girl hurried upstairs into the girl's dormitory.

"Did I do something?" Ron asked as he and Hermione walked over to where Harry was sitting and sat down.

"I don't think so," Harry said.

"She's having issues," Hermione said a tad bit darkly.

"Issues?" Harry inquired.

"I don't want to talk about it," Hermione told them.

"Oh," Harry said, "Well you two want to play a game? I bought this one at a shop in Hogsmeade."

Harry pulled a board game out from underneath the sofa. Ron glanced at Hermione as if waiting for her answer first.

"Sure," Hermione said feeling relieved to just do something normal, that wouldn't require too much thinking.

"Definitely," Ron said scanning the cover of the game.

Harry set it up on the coffee table in front of the sofa and explained the rules. Hermione realized that this game actually would require thinking, but at least it was the kind of thinking she was good at. Not all this emotional stressful thoughts that had been flying around her brain.

Somehow Ron's knee seemed to keep bumping Hermione's during the game but Hermione dismissed it as accident until she noticed how Ron's actions seemed to be tuned to hers. He was paying close attention to what expression she wore and how she moved her body. Hermione felt a shiver run down her back and prayed that she wouldn't have to deal with emotional junk from Ron as well as Ginny. Ginny, dear god, Ginny. Suddenly Hermione couldn't deal with just sitting here.

"I'm going to bed," she said feeling nauseated. Standing up she gathered her bag and hurried up to the girls' dormitory. Ginny, the tight door she'd managed to keep closed on these thoughts the past hours suddenly flew open, flooding Hermione with very intense emotions. God's will, Hermione hoped that Ginny was not a lesbian.

**Padfoot Reincarnated- I was trying to write this story from a different stand point than most of the ones I've seen here, where everyone is gay and everyone is okay with it. There isn't really any mention of homosexuality in the books though, so we really have no idea how'd they react. **

**SoulAstray- Now don't get ahead of me! **

**TonksFan693- Trust me, that's definately not my view on gays. My view is more like what Ginny's thinking. **


	7. Depressed

**A/N: Sorry this chapter is a little short, I'll try to update quicker to make up for it. This chapter is dedicated to: LunaML, Snowbear, invisible cappuncino conspiracy, Risifruttiii, and s3xy-Lady.   
**

"What's up between you and 'mione?" Harry asked sitting next to Ginny at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall.

"I don't want to talk about it," Ginny said bringing her face closer to the book she was reading.

"Aren't you going to eat breakfast?" Harry inquired shoving a bagel under her nose.

"I already ate," Ginny said sharply pushing the bagel away hard.

"I'm just trying the help Gin," Harry said.

"That's what everyone says," Ginny retorted and stood up angrily shoving her book into her bag and walking out of the hall.

It was Sunday morning; she and Hermione hadn't been talking to each other for a week now. Every time Ginny saw her Hermione would give her reproachful knowing looks. Only a year older than Ginny and she thought she knew everything.

Ginny suddenly felt depressed. Even if Hermione didn't know everything she always admitted it when she didn't understand something and almost always had something helpful to say. Up until now that was. Ginny had totally ruined their relationship. Why did she have to bring up her stupid thoughts about being gay? She was probably straight after all, Hermione probably was right. Being gay probably was wrong and Ginny should just forget totally about it.

At the moment Ginny felt she would do absolutely anything if Hermione would just forgive her, if they could just be friends once again. Be more than friends. That thought popped unexpectedly into her string of feelings. Ginny made a weak attempt to shove it down before agreeing. But her chances of that were now about negative 100 percent. Hermione was straight as an arrow and as homophobic as much as a rabbit fears death from numerous predators ever single day.

With a sigh she shoved open a small side door and stepped out onto the lawn of the castle. Finding a spot underneath a tree she pulled out her sketchbook and pencil. As usual her hand's motions formed the lines of a girl; the sweet curves and lightly fitting clothing of a girl. The curly hair of pursed expression that a certain girl Ginny knew often wore.

Then she remembered the way Hermione's voice sounded when she told Ginny that everything she felt wasn't real and was wrong. Resisting the urge to scream and cry all at the same time she tore the picture out of her sketchbook and ripped it into hundreds of little shreds. Then she stood up and stomped on them to finalize her anger. She'd thought Hermione was her friend! Friends trusted each other! Friends accepted each other!

"I hate her!" she yelled at the tree and slammed her fist against the bark. It hurt her hand more than it affected the tree, but Ginny welcomed the pain and slammed her fist against the tree again, repeating her words with each swing. When she felt a stab of heat run up her arm she finally stopped and realized her knuckles were covered in blood. She attempted to uncurl her fingers but that only sent more shooting pains.

"Fuck, now look at what you've done," Ginny said, but this wasn't Hermione's fault, Ginny's hand was Ginny's fault. She couldn't go the hospital wing though, they'd want explanations. With a sigh she picked up her sketchbook again and walked slowly down the lake and stuck her hand into the water. The blood quickly stained the surrounding water a pinkish color and Ginny watched, finding that she was fascinated. As her hand cleared Ginny was able to see a series of bright red cuts forming, the largest being on her knuckles. They'd form pretty scars.


	8. Realizations

"What the hell are you drawing?" Hermione heard Ron's voice ring out as she stepped down into the Gryffindor common room; Ginny had her sketchbook clutched to her chest looking up defiantly at Ron.

"None of your business!" Ginny yelled back, "Leave me alone."

Hermione was sure she had an idea of what the drawing might be of.

"That's just wrong Gin," Ron told her his face twisted into an ugly sneer. Was that what she had looked like when she'd told Ginny those exact same words? Ginny noticed her now and glanced at her, her eyes wide, wanting help. Hermione glanced down and hurried out of the common room.

Once she was in the Great Hall though the sudden smell of sausage and eggs made her feel nauseated. How could she have just left Ginny there? Facing Ron's wrath all by her self; and when Ron got angry, he got really angry.

Hermione wondered if Ginny had ever told anyone else, wondered if she would tell Ron now, but hoped she wouldn't. Hermione didn't think this school was ready for an out lesbian. She sat down at the Gryffindor table and buried her face in her hands. Was Ginny really going to go to hell now? Ginny, dear sweet little Ginny. Though she was hardly little anymore, most of the time it felt like Ginny was in the same year as the three of them. She'd looked so hurt, when Hermione had told her to shove it all away. Told her to do what Hermione her self had been doing for years. Hermione felt a rush of guilt, not wanting Ginny to have to go through the denial that Hermione had forced onto her self. Was that what it was, denial?

_Face it Hermione, you're a dyke_, an inner voice said. At least Ginny was truthful with her self. Hermione felt a sudden rush of anger at her parents and the religion that had been forced upon her. Angry at God for condemning Hermione for something that was out of her control.

"Just send me to hell then," Hermione whispered to herself, "Send me to hell for the way that _you _made me."

Then the other part of her brain told her that if she just tried harder she could hide all those feelings and make her self like boys. Or at least, make her self stop liking girls. For several years she'd managed to keep her mind blank of all emotion other than what she felt towards friends, for several years, then Ginny came along. Ginny, who was like a bright and shining star in the mass of darkness that surrounded Hermione. Ginny was so much stronger than Hermione, braver, rather than trying to hide what she was, she came to her, came to Hermione asking for help. And Hermione had turned her away.

"It's all your fault," she said. Hermione wasn't sure whether she was saying that to God or to her self, either way, she supposed it didn't matter. Did she even believe in God? Or hell at that matter?

"All whose fault?" Harry asked sitting down next to her.

"Mine, God's, I don't know," Hermione said surprised to find her voice crack, surprised to find that her cheeks were wet.

"You're still fighting with Ginny then?" he asked. Hermione glanced over at him; his face was soft and concerned, honest and truthful.

"Oh Harry," she said in a rush of emotion and flung her arms around him, burying her face in his chest as sobs wracked her body. Harry tensed up then relaxed and carefully put his own arms around her.

When her sobs finally died it was as if the clouds had lifted from her head. She leaned back and wiped her face on her sleeve.

"I have to go talk to her, I have to tell her that, that it's not true. She's the only one who understands," Hermione told Harry and stood up, adding, "Thank you."

In the doorway to the Great Hall she saw Ron standing, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Hi Ron," she said.

"Hey," he replied. She followed his gaze to where Harry was sitting.

"What was that?" he asked.

"What was what?" Hermione asked, resisting the urge to just ignore him and just find Ginny.

"You and Harry," he said.

"Me and.. what? He was comforting me!" Hermione said surprised that Ron had assumed that something developed between her and Harry.

"You sure looked cozy," Ron mumbled looking down.

"Lord," Hermione snorted then asked slowly, "You have a crush on me?"

Ron said nothing.

Hermione took that as a yes but couldn't think of anything else to say. Instead she turned and hurried down the hallway.


	9. I'm A Lesbian

**A/N: Whoa, I can't believe how many reviews this story is getting! Almost 50 so far! This chapter is dedicated to: uniforms rock, The Angel's Devil, Risifruttiii, Luna ML, Missa05, and Snowbear. **

Ginny sat in the common room drawing yet another sketch. This time it was a random girl, one that'd been in a dream. She'd decided to skip clothing in this drawing, and focus on studying the human form. In a drawing book she'd flipped through once it said that before you can get into the details of a drawing you have to understand the form of what you're drawing. You need to know the skeleton, the muscle, the skin, and the hair. In other words learn how to draw people naked before you add clothing. Or if it was an animal learn how to draw it without fur first. To her there was nothing sexual about drawing nude women.

"What the hell are you drawing?" Ron asked incredulously, peering over Ginny's shoulder. Apparently to Ron, there was.

"None of your business," Ginny snapped back, "Leave me alone."

"That's just wrong Gin," Ron said looking totally grossed out. Hypocrite, he was probably fascinated by it. She pulled the sketchbook close to her chest as other people in the room looked over at her and Ron, curious. Hermione was on the stairs, watching, her eyes cold.

_Hermione, can't you understand? _Ginny thought helplessly. Hermione looked down and hurried out of the room.

"It's art Ron," Ginny tried to explain to him. Her knuckles were starting to hurt again. She'd wrapped her hand in ripped pieces of an old shirt that'd been in the bottom of the trunk. Ron didn't even seem to notice that, no one had actually.

"Art!" Ron asked incredulously, though Ginny knew she'd caught him off guard with that comeback.

"You can't draw a wolf until you know what it'd look like without fur, without skin, until you know its skeleton," Ginny told him fiercely.

"That sure didn't look like a skeleton to me," Ron sneered.

"You're just looking for reasons to pick on me," Ginny yelled.

"No I'm not, that's just plain old gross," he told her reaching for her sketchbook as if he wanted to show everyone.

"It's _mine_," Ginny said darkly. He pulled his hand back, "Get away from me."

"Fine, be that way," Ron said storming out of the common room. Ginny glanced around the room, there were five other Gryffindors there, all eyes trained on her.

"It's just a drawing," she told them angrily and stood up, leaving the common room as well.

Was this her punishment? Was Hermione right? Was she going to hell, were the Lord and Lady angry at her for trying to accept these feelings? Were all her friends going to turn away from her? First her best friend, now her brother.

The tears came before Ginny could stop them, running down her cheeks and dropping onto her sketchbook, leaving blotches on the cover. She slowed from her near run to a slow walk and leaned against the wall, slowly sliding to the floor. Pulling her knees up to her chest she wrapped her arms around herself and buried her face. She didn't even know which hallway she was in, nor did she care. This was the worst school year ever, and it was all her fault. If only she'd just kept her stupid mouth shut.

"Ginny?" someone said. Ginny didn't look up but she could hear the footsteps come closer. Someone knelt down next to her.

"Gin?"

"Go away," Ginny said identifying the voice as Hermione.

"I need to talk to you, please," Hermione said and Ginny looked up, catching something in the other girl's voice.

"What, to tell me that everything I do is wrong and I'm a sick perverted freak?" Ginny snapped.

"I'm sorry," Hermione said. Ginny noticed that Hermione's eyes were red, as if she'd been crying also.

"Oh," Ginny said her heart picking up a beat at being so close to Hermione. Hermione's hair was all messed up, her face pale except for around her eyes from crying. She looked quite beautiful.

"I, I know what you're going through," Hermione admitted.

Ginny scowled, "How could you?"

"I'm a lesbian," Hermione said and Ginny's heart nearly stopped.


	10. Confessions

**A/N: Whoa, NINE reviews for chapter nine! This story must be getting good or something.. smirks. Heh.. you can expect about 25 chapters total. Anyway, this chapter is dedicated to: no douts, HPequalsgreatlit, foppet1, s3xy-Lady, invisible cappucino conspiracy, Missa05, Alice Dodgson, LunaML, and Snowbear. **

"No way," Ginny said in disbelief. Hermione felt a rush of guilt for causing Ginny this suffering.

"Yes way," Hermione whispered. Ginny expression changed from angry and sad to surprise and hope, then back to anger again.

Ginny stumbled to her feet her face full of hurt, "Then how could you have said all those awful things?"

Hermione stood up as well and admitted, "I was scared."

"Scared! _You_ were scared? Lord and Lady do you think it was easy for me to ask you that?" Ginny asked incredulously.

"I'm sorry Gin," Hermione protested, "I'm sorry."

"You lied to me, you hurt me," Ginny told Hermione.

"I know!" Hermione said, her voice rising as well, "I know I did! That's why I'm talking to you now! I'm going through the same thing you are! Except I've been trying to keep it locked up for years!"

"You've known for years?" Ginny asked softly.

Hermione nodded, "Except I've refused to admit it to myself. I didn't fake the anger I felt towards you, I was angry, but only because you opened a door to all these feelings and emotions that have been hidden in a little corner of my brain!"

Ginny didn't say anything and Hermione reached out to take the other girl's hand. Ginny jerked it away.

"Can you, can you forgive me?" Hermione asked softly.

"Yes," Ginny whispered her eyes locking onto Hermione's, "But those things you said. They seemed true, I could believe them."

"Don't, don't put yourself though what I did to myself," Hermione said fiercely taking both of Ginny's hands, "I don't know what God has against homosexuals, but I _know_ that what I feel can't be wrong. And if it is, it's his fault for making us this way."

Ginny glanced down studying Hermione's hands and Hermione suddenly noticed the bandages on her right hand.

"Your hand! God, Ginny, what happened?" Hermione asked seeing faint spots of blood that had seeped through the cloth.

"Nothing," Ginny murmured, "I punched something."

"Has Madame Pomfrey seen it?" Hermione asked studying Ginny's hand closely, frowning at the make shift bandages. Ginny shook her head.

"Do you believe in hell?" Ginny asked and Hermione looked up at Ginny's eyes, eyes that were wide with worry, a beautiful deep brown color. Hermione felt as if she could drown in those eyes. Hermione was startled to see such strong emotions in them.

"No," Hermione said and realized at that moment that what she said was true, she didn't believe in hell. She paused and looked down then back up at Ginny, "Thank you, for, making me see."

"I didn't do a thing," Ginny said, "I'm just glad that I'm, not alone."

"I know what you mean," Hermione whispered, her voice feeling hoarse. A single tear streaked down Ginny's face and Hermione suddenly found her arms wrapped around Ginny. Ginny held her tightly resting her head on Hermione's shoulder. Heat burned between them and after a moment Ginny leaned back a little bit to look at Hermione. Her breath was warm, her face barely an inch away from Hermione's.

"So, you're seriously a lesbian?" Ginny asked, her voice wavering.

"Yup, a total dyke," Hermione admitted, her voice unsure as well; as she said the words though they felt more and more real. This was right, this was real.

Ginny laughed softly and wiped a tear away from Hermione's cheek, "Me too."

Their eyes met once again and Ginny moved her face just a little bit closer to Hermione's making Hermione suddenly fiercely aware of the closeness of their bodies, the intensity in the air between them. She felt a brief moment of panic then heard footsteps down the hallway.

The two girls immediately sprang apart both their faces turning bright red. A moment later Harry came around the corner to see Ginny and Hermione leaning against opposite walls, apparently having a conversation about Quidditch. Harry noticed that they both looked liked they'd been crying a few moments ago and the conversation was little forced.

"You guys made up then?" he asked, figuring that they must have had one of those girl moments.

Ginny nodded uncertainly, "Yeah, yeah we made up."

Harry glanced at Hermione for confirmation. Hermione quickly nodded her head in agreement; almost glad that Harry had shown up at that moment, not sure she wanted to think about what might be going on between Ginny and her.

"Guess I'll see you guys later then," Harry said shoving his bangs out of his eyes before continuing on down the hallway.

"So, um," Ginny started once Harry was out of ear shot.

"Yeah, I'd better get going too, homework to do and all," Hermione babbled nervously.

"Right," Ginny said and they both smiled awkwardly then turned in opposite directions.


	11. Thoughts

**A/N: Sorry for taking so long in getting this up! I've been really busy this week and haven't managed to find time for my computer since tuesday! This chapter is dedicated to: LunaML, slytherinqueen525, Snowbear, s3xy-Lady, fuzzballnpumpkin, Alice Dodgeson, Miss07, Risifruttiii and invisible cappucino conspiracy.**

Ginny woke up feeling depressed before all the memories of the day before came back in a rush. She grinned to herself and rolled onto her back staring up at the curtains that hung above her head. Hermione was gay too! Hermione didn't hate her! She and Hermione could be friends again!

Swinging her legs over the edge of the bed and pulling her self up into a sitting position Ginny felt happier than she had in an incredibly long time. Amazing how having someone who was like you, someone who was going through the same thing, someone you could talk to, could make you feel a lot less alone. Hermione, the name seemed to sing through her head. It was still a little hard to believe even though Ginny knew it was true. Amazing that someone who comes off as homophobic would turn out to be a lesbian. Then again, a homophobic was one who is afraid of homosexuals, and Hermione had been afraid of herself as a homosexual.

Down in the common room Hermione was sitting, staring into the fireplace with Crookshanks on her lap.

"Morning Hermione," Ginny said lightly sitting down on the sofa next to the older girl and reaching over to rub Crookshanks behind the ears.

"He likes that," Hermione said with a smile.

"You two friends again?" Ron asked with a yawn stumbling down the steps from the boy's dormitory.

"Most definitely," Ginny said with a grin. Hermione smiled back then glanced back down at Crookshanks who was purring happily. Thinking back to yesterday Ginny wondered if they'd been about to kiss before Harry showed up. It was a crazy idea; Hermione had only just admitted she was a lesbian, so there wasn't much of a chance, but she hadn't exactly pulled away despite their closeness. And she'd seemed pretty embarrassed when Harry showed up.

"Gin?" Hermione asked waving a hand in front of Ginny's face.

"What?" Ginny asked jerking out of her thoughts.

"Looked like you were starting to zone out there," Hermione teased.

"Mm, just thinking about a dream I had," Ginny said quickly.

"I can never remember my dreams," Hermione admitted scratching Crookshanks' chin.

"Hm," Ginny said wanting to scoot closer to Hermione. Lord and Lady, knowing that Hermione was a lesbian increased the amount Ginny was attracted to her simply by the fact that there actually was a chance that they could end up together. She was, gorgeous. Ginny longed to just reach out and touch her hair, her face, her hands; Ginny stopped her thoughts before they got any farther feeling her self blush. She glanced over at the fireplace and studied the shapes the coals made.

"I'm gonna go get some breakfast now," Ginny said after a few minutes of silence, though whether it was an awkward or comfortable silence Ginny wasn't sure. Ron had flopped onto one of the poofy armchairs and was snoring quietly.

"Ten points from Gryffindor," Snape's voice rang out in the classroom. Ginny quickly shut her sketchbook and tried not to look guilty.

"I do not appreciate students _doodling _when they should be _listening,_" Snape said sharply, emphasizing each word.

"Sorry," Ginny mumbled sliding her sketchbook underneath her desk trying to hold back her anger at the Professor. Drawing always helped her listen better; it gave her something to do with her hands and eyes other than stare off into space. If she stared into space she'd always start daydreaming and then she really wouldn't be listening.

"What was that? I don't think you said that loud enough, Weasley," Snape said leaning on her desk and almost spitting out the word Weasley.

"I'm sorry," Ginny said glaring up into Snape's eyes.

"That's more like it," Snape said turning and walking back to the front of classroom and asking, "Now, where were we?"

Ginny picked up her quill and started scribbling in the margin of her paper, thankful that Snape didn't try to look at her drawing. That would have been highly embarrassing, and possibly outing. Something Ginny didn't want to be right now. Not in this school.

After class Ginny headed to the library to wait for Hermione, knowing, but still hoping, that Hermione would be here. After a week of avoiding and being avoided it was great to be able to spend time in Hermione's company. She felt as if she and Hermione needed to spend as much time as possibly together to make up for the week spent apart; felt inexplicably drawn to the other girl. Ginny realized she was hopeless, but what did it matter as long as Hermione still wanted to hang out with her?


	12. Swimming?

**A/N: I'm trying to get chapters up quicker now, so here's chapter 12! This one is dedicated to: Snowbear, Risifruttiii, s3xy-Lady, Missa07, LunaML, and invisible cappucino conspiracy.**_  
_

_Oh god_, were Hermione's first thoughts when she woke up. _I really am a lesbian now_, she thought to herself, as if admitting it to someone made it more real than it had been before. In a way though it was, by admitting it to Ginny, she had admitted it to herself.

A sudden rush of worry and nausea washed over her and Hermione closed her eyes, why oh why oh why did she have to be different? She was an outsider now, one of those people that other people give strange looks to while passing them in the street; people that other people talk about behind their backs. Hermione didn't _ask_ to be gay, she didn't want to be gay, but here she was, gay as ever and stuck that way.

_I'm different from everyone in this school_, she thought and opened her eyes again suddenly feeling horribly alone. Moving into a sitting position she glanced out the window. It was early in the morning and most of the other girls in her year were still sleeping; other normal girls, who never had to worry about their sexuality. It made Hermione aware of the fact that there's only one person inside your head, you. And just you, all alone, never to know what's truly going on beyond the boundaries of your body.

But, she wasn't completely alone, she had Ginny. She wasn't the only person in this whole school was a lesbian. Hermione felt relief wash over her, she was not alone. And besides, no one had to know that she was a lesbian. She could wait until she graduated Hogwarts and was out in the real world, and even then she didn't have to tell anyone. She was still a normal person. She _was_ a normal person. The fact that she liked the same gender was only a small difference, she wasn't an outcast.

Having reassured herself Hermione now felt ready to face the day and climbed out of bed grabbing some robes and towel from her trunk as she headed towards the bathroom to shower. When her shower was over, Hermione dressed quickly and went down into the common room where Crookshanks promptly got up from his spot by the fireplace and trotted over to her with a happy meow.

"Morning to you too," Hermione said leaning down to pick him up. He purred happily and she walked back over and sat down on the sofa in front of the fireplace.

Ginny, out of all the people Hermione would have suspected in this school to be gay, Ginny was one of the last ones. Amazing, how you can know someone for so long and not know something like that. Then again, no one knew or suspected that Hermione was gay; strange how life changes as you get older. Remembering how close they'd been that other day she blushed, remembered that intensity there'd been when their eyes had locked. Jesus, what if they'd kissed? What if, when Harry had walked down the hallway, he'd seen them kissing? Did she want to kiss Ginny?

This thought surprised Hermione, but then she'd also almost expected it. Her initial reaction was to shove away these kind of thoughts, fearing them and thus keeping them out of her mind, but Hermione was sick of being afraid of her thoughts. Hermione had never thought of Ginny as anything less than a friend, never thought of her as Ron's little sister. She'd always seen her as strong and smart, fun to be around. Beautiful? Hermione paused before deciding, yes, beautiful, beautiful in her own tomboyish sort of way. Tomboys were actually sort of hot, Hermione let herself admit. She smiled, deciding it was fun sort of to think about girls, fun to let herself think about whatever she wanted. If God wanted to send her to hell for the way he made her, so be it, but she was not going to live her life in denial and fear.

"Morning Hermione," she heard Ginny say suddenly and was jerked out of her thoughts. The object of her thoughts sat down on the sofa next to her and reached over to rub Crookshanks behind the ears.

"He likes that," Hermione told her with a smile.

* * *

"Hey 'mione," Ron said sitting down next to Hermione in the Great Hall where Hermione had spread out several books and was taking notes. 

"Hey Ron," she said without looking up.

Feeling Ron scoot closer to her she glanced over at him with a questioning look. He glanced at what she was working on.

"What professor gave you this much homework over the weekend?" he inquired.

"It's not homework," Hermione admitted.

"Then what is it?" Ron asked incredulously.

"A paper," Hermione said, "On the mistreatment of sentient magical creatures. Professor McGonagall said she'd edit it for me."

"Why?" Ron asked glancing around, "It's the weekend, wouldn't you rather be doing something else?"

"No, I like writing," Hermione told him, "I'm planning on sending this to the Ministry. Did you come here to pester me on my work habits or what?"

"Oh, no," Ron admitted, "I wanted to see if you wanted to go swimming."

"Swimming?" Hermione questioned raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, with Harry and everyone," Ron added, "It's going to start getting cold any day now and we thought we should take advantage of the heat while it lasts."

"Okay, maybe," Hermione said, "I'll meet you out there in an hour."

"An hour?" Ron protested. Hermione gave him a stern look and he relented, standing up and leaving the Great Hall.

An hour later Hermione pulled out her bathing suit with a look of distaste. Her cousin had gotten her a yellow bikini with red flowers and having no other bathing suit Hermione had packed it, not expecting to actually use it. Sighing she grabbed a towel and went into the bathroom to change.


	13. Kiss

**A/N: Mwaha.. I like this chapter. laughs evily Anyway, dedicates to: LittleKitsuneCUB, s3xy-Lady, Snowbear, invisible cappucino conspiracy, and Missa07. **

Ginny came out from underneath the water to see Hermione walking down towards the lake. That was a surprise, Ginny hadn't expected to see Hermione here, even though most of Gryffindor was. She felt suddenly self-conscious in her two-piece. The bottom half were like mini shorts and the top half was like a sports bra revealing her whole middle section. She sank lower in the water, up to her chin, as Hermione set her towel down.

It was late in the afternoon and the sun was already starting to set a little bit. Ron and Harry were noisily walking through the shallow water back to wear they'd dropped their towels, both stopped though when Hermione slipped off her robe revealing her fairly skimpy bikini. Ginny tried not to stare.

Ron was openly gawking and Harry was trying not to look surprised. Hermione walked over them and seem to be asking if they were getting out already. Ginny felt a stab of jealously towards Ron seeing the way he subtly studied her body. Hermione was _hers_, not Ron's. Thinking this thought though Ginny felt her face heat up and she ducked back underneath the water.

When she resurfaced Ron and Hermione were walking into the water while Harry jogged up to the castle. She felt another stab of jealously seeing how close Ron was to Hermione but once again shoved it away and swam over to them once they reached deeper water.

"Hey Hermione," she said brightly.

Hermione grinned seeing her and said, "I didn't know you were here!"

"Most of Gryffindor is, or was," Ginny said with a shrug.

"Seems like I'm a little late for most of the games though," Hermione observed looking around. A few more people were walking back up to the castle.

"You don't need that many people to play most games," Ron assured her.

"Nice bathing suit by the way," Ginny said, the words slipping out of her mouth before she could stop them. She felt her face heat up again.

Hermione's face turned bright pink as well and she stumbled over her words, "It was a present, didn't have any other bathing suit, so I just put this one on."

"I like it," Ginny said with a smile trying to cover up her own embarrassment and reassure Hermione at the same time; who was obviously as self-conscious as Ginny had felt coming down to the lake in her two-piece.

"Thank-you," Hermione said softly.

"Want to play chicken once Harry gets back?" Ron asked interrupting Hermione and Ginny.

"Sure," Ginny said, "Just as long as I'm not paired with you."

"You and Harry can be partners," he said then glanced at Hermione.

"Want to be partners Hermione?" Ron asked.

"Sure," Hermione agreed.

"Anyone wanna play chicken?" Ron hollered, his voice echoing across the lake. There were a few shouts back and several Gryffindors swam over.

The game went quickly and was followed by many more before most people tired out. Soon it was just Hermione, Ginny, and some other Gryffindors left swimming around.

Ginny moved back into the shallower water where it was about three feet and sank low into the water, tired from trying to push other girls down into water.

"I forgot how much I loved swimming," Hermione said walking through the water over to where Ginny was.

Ginny grinned and wiggled her toes in the soft sand bottom. Hermione's hair was soaked and all pushed back in a rather sexy way. Hermione kneeled down so the water came up to her chin and moved closer to Ginny.

"Penny for your thoughts?" she asked.

"Just admiring how beautiful you are," Ginny said; the words once again just slipping out. She felt her face go red and glanced down.

"Hey, you look pretty sexy yourself right now," Hermione said shifting so her feet were underneath her, lifting herself out of the water enough that her shoulders were above. She stepping closer to Ginny and lifted her chin up with her hand.

Ginny felt her face get even hotter, if that was possible and bit back a grin. Then glanced up and behind her, protesting, "I'm not sexy."

A splash of cool water hit her and she glanced back at Hermione in surprise to see Hermione standing up in the water and giving her a stern look.

"Hey!" she said standing up as well.

"No low self-esteem, if I compliment you, accept it with a thank-you," Hermione told her.

"Thank you," Ginny said with a smile then splashed Hermione back hard.

They both paused for a moment looking into each other's eyes as if waiting for the other to make a move then both stepped back leaning down to get as much force behind the water as possible, simultaneously lifting their hands out of the water hard, sending large amounts of water in opposite directions. A large, wet, fiery, splashing fight ensued. Ginny found herself laughing and screaming as water hit her and saw Hermione was overcome in the same way. Finally they were both laughing much too hard to splash each other in any effective way and she sank back down into the water.

When they both managed to stop laughing and breathe Ginny looked at Hermione. By now the sun had mostly set and stars were starting to appear. Ginny's eyes met Hermione's who had a mischievous grin on. Ginny brought her hands up again, ready to splash Hermione back if Hermione splashed her, but instead Hermione moved closer and took both of Ginny's hands, effectively stopping her from being able to splash the other girl.

Ginny paused suddenly aware of how close they were. Hermione leaned forward and touched her lips to Ginny's briefly, her hands moving up to rest on Ginny's shoulders. Ginny looked into Hermione's eyes and saw fear, hope, and love.


	14. Upcoming Dance

**A/N: Yay! I got twelve reviews for that last chapter! happiness This chapter gets lots of dedications: theinfamousredflag, MadCat, Lil' Evil Bitch, bluebonnet babe, Snowbear, spenceandash4ever, s3xy-Lady, verboden liefde, Alice Dodgson, Missa07, slytherinqueen525, and Risifruttiii. **

"Wow," Ginny breathed glancing into Hermione's eyes again, then embarrassed, looked down. Hermione blushed as well and they both took a step back. Ginny glanced over to where the other students were swimming; none seemed to have noticed them.

Hermione glanced back at Ginny and for a moment they both avoided the other's gaze until Hermione suddenly realized how ridiculous they were being and bit back a grin. She glanced into Ginny's eyes and saw Ginny smile. Suddenly Hermione felt weirdly happy and let herself grin.

"We should probably get back up to the castle," Ginny said.

"Yeah," Hermione agreed and they both stood up in the shallow water and started heading towards the shore. They found their towels and started to dry off when Hermione noticed Ginny studying her. Ginny quickly glanced away and once again Hermione found the whole situation between the two of them rather funny and let out a little laugh, then threw her towel at Ginny.

Ginny pulled the towel off her head with a grin and threw it back at Hermione who was now pulling on her robe. Hermione ducked and it landed in the sand. Hermione picked it up then walked back over to Ginny who had pulled on her robe as well and took the other girl's hand giving it a little squeeze as they started walking back up to the castle together.

Neither Hermione nor Ginny spoke much as they headed back up to the castle. Dinner was going on and the Great Hall was fairly full. In the midst of all the other Gryffindors they weren't able to talk much to each other.

* * *

Hermione woke up the next morning feeling strangely giddy. Life sure was completely different than she'd expected it to be this year. She'd expected to study hard and get good grades and learn knew things, expected to not get a boyfriend, and expected to maybe make some progress with her house elf campaign. Those things were happening, but what she hadn't expected was Ginny. Hadn't expected to learn that Ginny was gay, certainly hadn't expected to start falling for her. She wondered if Ginny was awake yet. It sounded like one of the girls in her year was in the shower but, after looking around the room, most of them were still asleep. 

_Did I actually kiss her or was that just a dream? _Hermione wondered thinking back to the previous evening. Hermione smiled remembering the feel of Ginny's lips against her own and suddenly couldn't wait to just be alone with Ginny again.

Hermione was walking into the shower when she suddenly wondered, what if Ginny didn't actually like her back. Neither of them had really said anything… Hermione shoved these thoughts away, Ginny hadn't protested Hermione kissing her at all. _Thank you Ginny for bringing out the real me, for making me realize that it's okay for me to be gay. Thank you for accepting me the way I am, though I didn't accept you at first. _

Down in the common room Ron and Harry were playing chess but no one else was there. Hermione walked over and sat down in a poofy chair next to them.

"Is Ginny up yet?" she asked happily watching as Harry moved his Queen, apparently trying to escape the bishop that was threatening it.

"Dunno," Ron said moving his knight and capturing Harry's queen then glancing at Hermione in a studying way, "You look nice today. Bright."

Hermione bit her lip and looked back at the board. If she looked the way she felt then she probably looked pretty good. Being happy probably made you look good.

"Crap," Harry said making a face and scanning the board more intently.

"You know Harry, you don't have to play chess with Ron," Hermione reminded him, "You could play a game that you're good at."

"Harry wouldn't be playing if he didn't want to play," Ron protested.

"I just have to beat him once," Harry growled pushing a pawn forward. Ron smiled at Hermione trying to catch her eye.

"So what are you guys going to be for the Halloween ball?" Ron asked, directing his question more towards Hermione.

"Halloween ball?" Hermione asked confused.

"Yeah, remember that announcement Dumbledore made at the feast on the first day?" Harry asked.

"Oh," Hermione said the memories rushing back. Dressing up for Halloween; that was something she hadn't done since she was little. The earliest she could remember she was a princess, another year a fairy, then a witch, and a ghost. She knew she'd been more things but couldn't remember.

"We could all do matching costumes," Ron suggested capturing another one of Harry's pawns.

Hermione laughed, "I'll probably just do something simple I guess."

"Do we have to bring dates?" Harry asked trying to save his last pawn that was being threatened on two sides.

"Dunno, probably, if these are gonna be like the Yule Ball," Ron said then glanced at Hermione, "Hey 'mione, want to go with me?"

"Oh, I'll probably end up not going anyway," Hermione said lightly.

"Aw come on, I'm asking you before a week away from the dance," Ron protested, "I'm remembering that you're a girl I can ask!"

"Why don't you go ask one of those girls you had a crush on?' Hermione inquired.

Ron shrugged and Harry seemed to be trying not to laugh at something. Hermione said nothing and leaned back in the chair watching as Ron continued to cream Harry.

She and Ginny could go as friends as it probably wasn't required to have dates. _She and Ginny_, the words sounded nice in her head. Ginny, Ginny, Ginny. Hermione felt like smiling again. She couldn't wait for Ginny to wake up so they could go off somewhere and talk, or kiss again. Kissing Ginny had been a million times better than kissing Krum, even though it'd just been a little peck and she and Krum had done some serious making out. Hermione wondered if that'd been Ginny's first kiss or if Ginny had kissed Neville at all.


	15. Falling In Love

**A/N: I'm sooo sorry for not getting this up quicker! I've been so busy I've hardly been on my computer at all in the past week. Agh... I hope you guys still remember this story exists! This chapter is dedicated to: Galleon-to-Galleon, Snowbear, MadCat, Missa07, Risfruttiii and s3xy-Lady. **

The moment Ginny opened her eyes the rush of memories from yesterday came back and she quickly climbed out of bed and pulled on her robes in a haphazard manner before thudding down the stairs into the common room.

Ginny paused at the bottom of the stairs and glanced around spying Hermione watching Harry and Ron play chess. Ron said something and it must have been funny because Hermione laughed. Suddenly feeling shy she waited at the bottom of the stairs. What if that kiss hadn't really meant anything, what if it'd just been a light little friend kiss?

"Ginny!" Hermione said seeing the other girl standing at the foot of the stairs. Ginny felt her heart lift and she walked over to the table.

"Morning," she said lightly glancing at the chess board. Harry was being creamed as usual. Harry was making faces as he studied the board so Ginny reached out and moved his Queen for him.

"Hey!" Ron protested. Ginny bit back a grin, she was okay at chess. Not as good as Ron but she didn't play it nearly as much.

"Are you sure that doesn't put my Queen in danger?" Harry asked.

"Your queen is your best offensive piece, use her," Ginny advised then glanced at Hermione who was watching Ginny with a smile playing on her lips.

"Want to go eat breakfast or something?" Hermione asked.

"Or something?" Ginny inquired with a grin. Hermione blushed and shrugged standing up from the poofy armchair.

"See you two later," Hermione said leading Ginny out of the common room.

"Have you eaten yet?" Ginny asked once they were walking down the hallway.

"No, but who cares about breakfast? Let's just go somewhere," Hermione said moving her hand over to take Ginny's.

Ginny felt a little thrill run down her back. Hermione _did_ like her! She glanced over at the older girl, meeting Hermione's eyes.

"Where should we go?" Ginny asked feeling a little breathless.

"I don't know, the library?" Hermione suggested.

"Someone might see us there," Ginny said then blushed a little realizing that that comment made it seem like she was assuming they'd be kissing.

"Hm, right," Hermione said then asked in a worried voice, "Oh god, what if Harry and Ron suspect something? What if someone figures out we're gay?"

The last word was said softer than everything else and Ginny stopped walking and took Hermione's shoulders.

"It wouldn't even occur to Harry and Ron to wonder if we're lesbians," Ginny reassured her, "This school is totally straight. Just relax and be yourself."

Hermione nodded then glanced up, "We could go to the Astronomy tower. No one goes there during the day."

"Good idea," Ginny said moving her hands down from Hermione's shoulders and taking her hands. Meeting Hermione's eyes again and feeling a tingle of warmth run through out her body. She felt the sudden urge to kiss Hermione right there but she'd never kissed anyone before Hermione had kissed her last night and she glanced down before glancing back at Hermione again.

Hermione blushed then glanced down the hallway and asking, "The tower is this way right?"

Ginny nodded and dropped Hermione's right hand as they both turned and continued walking down the hallway.

The wind was cool up and fresh up on the tower though the light from the sun was still hot. Ginny breathed in deep as she climbed through the trap door in the floor out into the open air. Hermione shut the door and latched it behind her.

"Just in case," Hermione said.

Ginny nodded then walked over to the wall that surrounded the circular top to the tower. Hermione stepped over next to Ginny, their shoulders not quite touching.

"So, um, about us?" Ginny asked turning her head and stumbling over her words a bit and feeling a little bit embarrassed.

"I really like you," Hermione admitted quickly.

"Lord and Lady I think I'm falling in love with you," Ginny breathed. Hermione grinned and Ginny suddenly felt like laughing.

"Can I kiss you?" Hermione whispered moving a little closer.

"You didn't ask last time," Ginny told her. Hermione smiled then kissed her softly. Ginny felt like she was drowning. She turned and wrapped her arms around Hermione pulling her closer. Finally, for lack of air, they were forced to break apart, breathing heavily.

Ginny grinned and said softly, "I don't have anyone to compare to, but I think you're a good kisser."

Hermione blushed, "I guess I learned from Victor."

Ginny giggled, "Victor. Boys. Ewww."

Hermione laughed, "He was alright, I think I was caught up in his fame though. It was nowhere near the same as kissing you."

"I guess we won't be able to tell anyone about our relationship," Ginny pondered.

Hermione nodded, "It won't be too hard to find time to be alone though. We can tell everyone that we're studying."

Ginny giggled again, "Yup, studying. Studying each other."

Hermione shoved Ginny playfully, "You make that sound wrong."

"Sex isn't wrong," Ginny protested.

"Mm," Hermione said thoughtfully.

Ginny laughed and leaned forward to kiss Hermione again. The rest of the morning was spent mostly in silence.


	16. A Fight With Ron

**A/N: Sorry, didn't get this chapter up as quick as I'd hoped! This one's dedicated to: Galleon-to-Galleon, Lymaris, s3xy-Lady, Snowbear, Risifruttiii, Missa07, and slytherinqueen525. **

"I think Ron has a crush on me," Hermione said leaning back against the tree on the grounds of Hogwarts.

"Ron? Really? Why?" Ginny asked glancing up from her sketch and over at Hermione.

"He's been acting all weird around me ever since school started," Hermione admitted, "And I asked him once. He said nothing."

"Good lady," Ginny commented, "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know," Hermione admitted, "Tell him I don't want to be in a relationship right now."

"At least, not with a boy," Ginny said with a smile.

Hermione glanced around before leaning over and pulling off Ginny's baseball cap to kiss the younger girl.

It was a warm day though the sun was already starting to set, hinting of the short winter days to come. Ginny was wearing jean shorts and a plain t-shirt with a battered old cap. Hermione was wearing simple jeans and a tank top.

Ginny's hair spilled down onto her shoulders now free of the confines of the cap and Hermione brushed a few strands away from her eyes and kissed her again, this time a shorter softer kiss.

"You're being carefree today," Ginny whispered when Hermione leaned back.

"No one's here," Hermione said glancing around the grassy hills again just to be sure.

Ginny smiled then added a few more pencil strokes to her drawing. Hermione glanced down at it and smiled, "You're good."

"Thanks," Ginny said with a grin.

"I love you," Hermione told her. Ginny glanced up again and grinned.

"You should wear your hair down more often," Hermione said then added, "I love your hair."

"I love every single bit of you," Ginny said her eyes scanning Hermione up and down. Hermione grinned.

"Do you really think this school is that homophobic?" Ginny asked suddenly glancing back up at the large castle.

Hermione shrugged, "Yes, I mean take a look at how _I_ treated you, and I try to be open-minded as much as possible. I was reading through some history books too and out of the deaths that have occurred at Hogwarts one was a homosexual boy who committed suicide off the Astronomy tower."

"Whoa," Ginny said shocked, "That's crazy. So you think he committed suicide because the other students hated him?"

"I don't know, I just get a bad feeling," Hermione said with a frown, "I mean, there's probably a reason that _no one_ is out here. I know there's more gay people than just us."

"Hm, yeah," Ginny said thoughtfully.

"And another death was supposedly accidental during some Quidditch practice, a lesbian was hit in the head with a bludger, hard. It cracked her skull," Hermione explained, "The boy who hit it said the sun was in his eyes and that he'd been aiming for her broom. He was only about two yards away from her though."

"That's awful," Ginny said feeling a little jolt of fear run through her body, "But that was years ago. The world over all is more open-minded now isn't it?"

"I think so," Hermione admitted then sighed and glanced up at the castle as well, "I need to go work on my paper."

"Okay," Ginny said, "See you this evening."

Hermione leaned over and gave Ginny one last quick kiss before standing up and brushing off her jeans and heading back up towards the castle.

"Do you think I should mention anything about African American slavery in America, or is that not relevant?" Hermione asked pursing her lips as she held her quill above the paper.

"Just relax Hermione," Ron said scanning the paper, "You already have like twenty feet written."

"It's not twenty, its only eight," Hermione reminded him.

"But you have tiny writing! If I'd written it, it'd be twenty," Ron said.

"Hm," Hermione said brushing off his comments and dipping her quill into the ink and adding on another few sentences.

"So have you decided if you're going to the dance or not?" Ron asked. Halloween was only two weeks away and already decorations were showing up around the castle.

Hermione shrugged then glanced at him, her eyes meeting his. He was sitting next to her scanning through books to help her. He looked up feeling her gaze then leaned over and kissed her softly. Hermione's eyes widened and she turned her head away quickly feeling a rush of nausea.

"What?" Ron asked concerned.

"I don't like you that way Ron," Hermione answered slowly.

"Oh," Ron said, "Well, I guess I sort of knew that."

"Then why the hell did you kiss me?" Hermione asked starting to feel annoyed.

Ron shrugged, "I, I really like you. Love you even."

"I love you too Ron, but as a friend," Hermione told him, "I'm just not ready to be in a relationship with any guy right now. School is what's important to me."

"What about Krum? You sure seemed to have fun with him!" Ron retorted angrily.

"Krum! Why are you bringing _him_ up? That has nothing to do with this," Hermione said standing up and rolling up her parchment.

Ron made a face, "I guess you only like rich famous boys."

"Oh, so you think I don't want to go to the dance with because you're poor?" Hermione nearly shouted, "Jesus Ron. Get a life."

Ron stood up angrily and walked out of the library leaving Hermione alone. This was just great. Why did Ron have to go and ruin their relationship like that? Everything would be even weirder between them from now on. Hermione had no idea what Ron must have been thinking.


	17. This Is Why

**A/N: OMFG! I just realized I have fourteen reviews for chapter sixteen.. That's a record for me! Yay! does happy dance Okay.. time to stop sounding like a preppy internet dork. No abbreviations.. must be grammatically correct. This chapter gets FOURTEEN dedications! tells self to stop bragging Dedications to: MusicalElphie, RandieCeal05, blue-silkra, Willow Branch, starwitrobin, spenceandash4ever, Galleon-to-Galleon, hot grl, Missa 07, Risifruttiii, Snowbear, LtStorm, s3xy-Lady, and slytherinqueen525. **

"Oh god what am I going to do about Ron?" Hermione asked running a hand through her hair and sitting down on an overturned bucket.

"Just ignore him, he'll get over it," Ginny said looking around and spying another bucket. She flipped it over and sat down across from Hermione.

"That's what I tried doing and then he kissed me," Hermione complained making a face.

"Boys," Ginny said sighing and shaking her head.

"It makes me feel alone," Hermione admitted, "Everyone is going around being all heterosexual and here are the two of us forced the hide in broom closets."

"At least we're alone together," Ginny whispered grinning at the pun Hermione had unintentionally made.

"I still want to be friends with him though," Hermione explained, "I mean he and Harry have been my best friends since our first year."

Ginny nodded, "Give him some time then try talking to him."

"Yeah," Hermione said with a sigh and glanced upwards, "Jeez, I'm actually lesbian. It's sort of strange to let myself think like this, after trying to push it back for so long. Why is life so complicated?"

"Being a teenager is hard," Ginny commented, "A lot of older people say that we should be happy and enjoy being young, but in truth, your teenage years are the hardest of your life. My mom often says the age she's at right now is the best ever."

"I'm glad you and I are alone together," Hermione said looking at Ginny gratefully.

Ginny grinned and took Hermione's face in her hands, leaning forward to kiss the other girl gently.

"I'm a sinner," Hermione whispered with a slight smile resting her forehead against Ginny's so that their faces millimeters apart.

"Oh shut up," Ginny said with a grin kissing Hermione again.

"Did you know that Ron had a crush on me?" Hermione asked Harry on the way to class.

Harry shrugged, "Well, yeah."

"Couldn't you have tried to convince him out of it?" Hermione inquired.

"You know Hermione, he's liked you for a long time," Harry told her, "I mean ever since our third year, maybe second year. I'm surprised you didn't notice until now."

"Oh," Hermione said, slightly surprised. "How's he doing?"

Harry shrugged again, "He sort of suspected that you didn't really like him at all, but you shot him down pretty hard."

Hermione made a face, "He suspected? I'm surprised you didn't notice until now that I don't have any feelings other than friendly ones for him at all!"

Harry put a hand on Hermione's shoulder, stopping and turning to face her, "Hermione. It's okay. I don't want to argue with you."

"Thank you Harry," Hermione said with a grateful smile.

"Try to relax some Hermione," Harry advised, "Don't stress out so much over things. Anxiety isn't good for you."

"Yes," Hermione agreed remembering how freaked she'd been when the three of them had taken their O.W.L.s. Harry pushed open the door to their Transfiguration class.

Hermione found herself once again thinking about Ginny instead of doing her work after class in the library. She was still having a hard time believing that everything going on was real. That she wasn't going to suddenly wake up with everything back to normal. She and Ginny would be friends, Ron wouldn't have a crush on her, Ginny would be straight and so would she. Isn't that what the real world should be like? But, it wasn't.

_I must be falling in love with her_, Hermione thought absentmindedly. Hermione suddenly felt a jolt of fear, the full impact of this thought sinking in. She and Ginny. Hermione had convinced herself that being a lesbian wouldn't affect her life in anyway, yet here it was, affecting her all over the place. The two of them still had a few years left of Hogwarts; _years._ They'd have to pretend to be nothing more than friends for _years._ And if anyone found out, Hermione didn't want to think about that. Her life would be ruined, she'd no longer be thought of as the smart, hard-working one. She'd be an outsider, she and Ginny would be 'the lesbians.' A title Hermione didn't want.

_You're happier this way though_, an inside voice suggested. Was she happier? She certainly felt happier than she could ever remember when she was around Ginny, but other times; times like this, she felt so alone it was hard to stand.

Hermione frowned and stared hard at the pages of the book as if somehow the book could give her the answers. _Being a teenager is hard_, Ginny's words floated back into her head.

"Jeez, don't burn the pages out," Ginny's voice said. Hermione glanced up to see the other girl sitting down across from her.

"Thinking," Hermione admitted closing the book.

Ginny gave her a concerned look sensing that thinking rather meant stressing. Hermione was, as usual, looking very beautiful. Ginny felt a little burst of happiness as this thought floated in her mind. _I'm gay! I'm a lesbian! I'm in love!_, she felt like shouting to everyone. Who gave a damn if people were homophobic? That was their problem.

"Don't stress," Ginny told her, "Everything will work out."

"You're too optimistic," Hermione told her a small smile appearing on her lips, "It's hurting my eyes."

"You worry too much," Ginny said, "I feel insulted though that your eyes hurt when they look at me."

Hermione almost laughed, a grin spreading across her face, "Your optimism hurts my eyes. Your shining personality and brilliant hair do not."

"Shining? Brilliant?" Ginny inquired raising an eyebrow.

"What would I do without you Ginny?" Hermione asked softly glancing down then back up into the deep brown eyes of the person she couldn't do without.

_At least we're alone together_; Ginny's voice once again rang out in Hermione's mind, reminding her why it was okay that she was a lesbian. Why it was okay that she felt isolated and afraid sometimes. Why she wasn't still in total denial of herself.


	18. Ron Again

Ron glanced down when Hermione came into the common room and Hermione purposely sat down on the other side of the room setting her bag down at her feet and pulling a fat book out of it. When Ron glanced over at her she put on a stony face but on the inside she felt awful. This was even worse than any of the fights they'd ever had.

An hour later she was writing down the finishing sentence to the essay they'd been assigned for homework in Ancient Runes. Looking around the common room Ron had left, though Ginny and Harry were just climbing through the portrait hole now.

"Hey Hermione," Ginny said brightly, a grin lighting up her features. Harry followed Ginny over to where Hermione was sitting and they both sat down in adjacent chairs.

"How was your day?" Ginny asked reaching over to touch the sleeve of Hermione's robes as if she wanted to take Hermione's hand, but obviously in the common room she couldn't. Hermione smiled at her catching the other girl's eyes and willing the thought, _I love you_, at her.

Still looking into Ginny's eyes she replied, "Not very good."

"Maybe you could try talking to him," Harry suggested, guessing that it wasn't very good due to the stoniness between Ron and her.

"He doesn't want to talk to me," Hermione said with a frown, "He seems to think it's my fault that I haven't fallen head over heels for him."

"Just tell him you want to be friends," Harry continued.

"But how can I when he doesn't want to have anything to do with me! Can't _you_ talk to him? Make him see…" Hermione asked anxiously.

Harry shrugged, "You could always try just going out with him for a little bit, I mean we've all been really good friends over the years, I mean, at least just go to the dance with him, that doesn't mean going out. You know, give him a chance."

Ginny made a jealous face that Harry didn't notice. Hermione bit back a giggle before the seriousness of the situation returned to her.

"I don't want to give him ideas. You know me, I'm, busy with school and everything. I'm not interested in being in a relationship until I'm out of college. I'm not looking for love," Hermione said, then glanced over at Ginny meeting the other girl's eyes and added on, "Love is the kind of thing that just comes to you when you least expect it."

Ginny smiled and Hermione glanced down a faint blush appearing on her cheeks before looking back at Harry.

"What?" Harry asked, "I'm not talking about love, I'm talking about all of us needing dates for the dance and that you might as well go with Ron, you didn't have to be so harsh maybe…"

"Maybe I would have gone with him if he hadn't gotten it into his head to kiss me!" Hermione burst out, "And I thought you were neutral about this anyway. Since when are you teaming up with _him?"_

"Sorry," Harry said then stood up heading over to where Dean and Seamus were messing with a glowing rubber mouse from Zonko's.

"I think I'm going to go get some dinner," Hermione said folding up her books as well.

"I'll see you when you get back," Ginny said with a mischievous grin that made a little shiver run down Hermione's spine.

She grinned, "See you."

* * *

Down in the Great Hall Hermione spied Ron sitting by himself at the Gryffindor table. It was a little late for dinner and not many students were there. She felt a stab of guilt at being so harsh to Ron; maybe she could try to tell him that they could just be friends. Maybe she should just go to the stupid dance with him. Or just not go to the dance at all.

"Hi," she said sitting down across from Ron.

"Hey," Ron said without much enthusiasm.

"I'm sorry for being so harsh to you," Hermione said. Ron didn't meet her eyes. Hermione waited for a return apology but got none.

"I'm not even going to that stupid dance anyway," Hermione told him, "So I'm not going with anyone else either."

The whole dormitory would probably be empty on the night of the dance- it seemed like _everyone_ was running around thinking up costumes- and she and Ginny could probably have to themselves. The professors were really starting to pile on the homework and they hardly got much time at all together. Ron made a face but said nothing.

"Jeez Ron don't just ignore me! I'm trying to make up with you!" Hermione said a little too loudly, "You could maybe apologize back!"

"Apologize for what?" Ron asked spitefully.

"Um, kissing me for a start," Hermione reminded him, sarcasm edging its way into her voice.

"Well, sorry," Ron said meeting her sarcasm.

"Don't be so immature," Hermione told him standing up walk away.

"Don't you get it Hermione! I can't be _just_ friends with you!" Ron said, his voice nearing a shout as he stood up as well. The few people that were in the great hall turned their heads to watch what was going on. Hermione felt her face turn red with embarrassment.

"Why the hell not! We've been _just_ friends for a long time now!" Hermione retorted.

"You don't understand what I'm going though! You're not being sympathetic!" Ron protested loudly, "Do you know how hard it is to sit and watch you go about your normal life?"

"You know what Ron? Maybe I'm going through things too! Maybe I've had relationship issues before too! Maybe you're not being sympathetic to me!" Hermione yelled back.

"What relationship? You and Krum? What did you he write a letter to you saying he wanted to break up?" Ron shouted back cruelly.

"What the fuck are you bringing up _Krum_?" Hermione asked incredulously, "You know as well as I do that that was over the moment he left this school!"

"Well then what the fuck are you talking about?" Ron countered.

"Language," Professor McGonagall said sharply as she walked into the hall, "Ten points from Gryffindor for your scurrilous choice of words."

Hermione glared fiercely at Ron blaming him for this loss of points before storming out of the hall trying to hold back the frustrated tears that were welling up in her eyes.

She lost all track of what hallway she was in and finally collapsed at the bottom of a set of stairs and hid her face in her arm, her sleeve quickly becoming wet with tears.

"Hermione!" she heard the thud of footsteps hurrying down the stairs then felt Ginny's hands on her shoulders.

"What's wrong?" Ginny asked pulling Hermione's hands away from her face and forcing her to look into the other girl's face.

Ginny reached over and wiped the tears of Hermione's cheeks and kissed her forehead, brushing the hair away from her face.

"Ron, he said, I said, awful things," Hermione finally managed to force the words out.

"Oh Hermione," Ginny said cupping Hermione's face in her hands and kissing her lips softly. Hermione let herself get lost in the kiss; let all her worries and anger drift away.

Someone's short cough jerked both of them out of the kiss. Turning her head she saw Harry standing at the top of the stairs. They both stumbled to their feet, faces equal shades of red.

"Harry- I can explain," Ginny tried to start but he just turned around and walked back the way he'd come.


	19. Shock

**A/N: Sorry for taking a bit in getting this one up. Its shorter than normal too.. :-( This one is dedicated to: spenceandash4ever, prin69, blue-silkra, hot grl, Risifruttiii, s3xy-Lady, RandiCeal05, Galleon-to-Galleon, jax319, Snowbear, Missa07, LinnSurion, and MusicalElphie.**

"What do you think he's going to do?" Ginny asked pursing her lips. She and Hermione were alone in the Great Hall, sitting at the Gryffindor table. It was just barely 5 in the morning.

"No clue," Hermione said softly. This was like her worst nightmare, everything bad that could happen was happening.

"Side up with Ron maybe," Hermione said, "He probably guesses that this is why I couldn't be with Ron. Probably thinks that Ron is right to be pissed at me, that I'm a horrible person."

"You can't really think Harry would do that?" Ginny inquired.

Hermione shrugged, "I don't know really."

"At least he hasn't told anyone yet," Ginny reminded her. It was Saturday; Harry had seen them kissing Wednesday evening. He had avoided both of them much the same way Ron had been avoiding Hermione.

"I think he's in shock. Maybe he'll think it was a dream he had," Hermione said wistfully. Ginny smiled and scooted closer to Hermione, touching Hermione's hair gently and pushing a strand of it back behind her ear.

"Or one of those good dreams that you never tell anyone about," Ginny said wickedly, a grin appearing on her face.

Hermione shoved her lightly, unsuccessfully holding back a smile, "Don't be naughty."

"You know you like it," Ginny teased. Hermione blushed.

Ginny heard footsteps and turned to see Harry walking into the Great Hall. He noticed them a moment later and froze, a little like a rabbit trying not to be noticed by the hawk.

"Hey Ginny, Hermione," he said lightly.

"We need to talk Harry," Hermione said, "You've been avoiding both of us."

"What's there to talk about?" he asked edging back towards the door, as if trying to slip away.

Hermione gave him a look.

"Fine, we'll talk," Harry said and sat down on the other side of the Gryffindor table, across from where Hermione and Ginny were seated.

"So why are you avoiding us?" Ginny asked.

"You two, you're, both of you…" Harry stumbled over his words.

"Gay?" Ginny provided.

Harry coughed, his face starting to turn red.

"Harry, I'm still the same person I was last week or last year," Hermione said, "I can't help that the person I've fallen in love with is the same gender as I."

Harry shrugged, "I just thought, thought that you weren't the type of person who'd get into stuff like that. You were always the good one out of the three of this."

"Stuff like what?" Ginny inquired, daring him to say that being a lesbian was wrong.

"You know," Harry said.

"No, we don't know. What are we doing that's not good?" Ginny pushed.

Harry stood up with a frustrated look on his face, "Stop playing with me Ginny! You both know exactly what I'm talking about; you're just pretending you don't understand. I saw you two kissing! That's weird, it's, not normal. I don't know, do you see anyone else in this school doing that? Why can't you both get boyfriends or something?"

Ginny was about to open her mouth to make another retort, anger flashing in her eyes, but Hermione put her hand on top of the other girl's.

"Gin', he doesn't understand," Hermione said.

"I understand perfectly well," Harry retorted, defending himself.

"No, you don't," Hermione told him, "But can you just promise, as my best friend, that you won't tell anyone about us?"

Harry gave them a funny look and made a face, "It's too weird. I can't believe that you two are, _together._"

"Well we are," Ginny said fiercely.

"Promise?" Hermione asked.

"Fine, I promise," Harry finally said, "Your secret is safe with me. I don't know what would happen to you if anyone else found out and even though it's weird, I can't help that you're still my friend."

"Thank-you Harry," Ginny said with a slight smile.

Harry shrugged and turned around, leaving the hall.

"He didn't eat breakfast," Ginny commented.

"He's still in shock," Hermione said feeling relieved. That wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. Neither of the girls noticed a notorious blonde haired boy get up from the Slytherin table and slip out of the hall.


	20. Discoveries

**A/N: Gah.. I'm being so bad with getting chapters up, I plan on putting them up within a few days of each other but somehow I don't get on my computer often enough to put them that quick and it stretches from a few days to every week or two! Ah well, I hope you enjoy the chapter! This one is dedicated to: theinfamousredflag, Closing The Goddam Door, ** **gabsiedora, Amon-100, jadz-98, Aforlo16, Missa07, Snowbear, dumbledoreluver, Risifruttiii, MusicalElphie, artemisjana, s3xy-Lady, and RandiCeal05.  
**

"Dyke," Ginny could have sworn she heard the word whispered as she walked past. She glanced back and saw a group of Slytherin standing talking with each other. One of them glanced at her but glanced away when he saw her looking.

Harry couldn't have said anything, could he? He might have told Ron though, they _were_ best friends. That could turn out disastrous though, Ron would freak if he knew. Ginny frowned wishing it was summer and Bill and Lupin were there. They were the open-minded type who wouldn't care if someone was straight or not.

"Hey Ginny, want to go the Halloween dance with me?" someone shouted as Ginny climbed through the portrait hole.

Ginny blushed and smiled, shaking her head at the boy who'd yelled across the room. He was in the year below her, Ginny wasn't sure she could remember his name. The boy shrugged and turned back to his group of friends. Ginny quickly scanned the room for Hermione but didn't see the other girl.

Funny how just a year ago she hadn't even been sure if she _was_ gay and now here she was, going out with Hermione; the top girl in the whole school. Ginny smiled to herself feeling a little bubble of happiness rise in her heart. Hermione was just amazing; there was no other word for her.

Up in the girl's dormitory Ginny found Hermione sitting on the window sill gazing down at the lake.

"Hey baby," Ginny said, the words slipping out as she walked over and put her hand into Hermione's.

"Hey," Hermione replied a smile brightening her face, hinting of held back laughter.

"Do you think Harry could have told anyone?" Ginny asked climbing up onto the window sill next to Hermione, with her back to the opposite wall.

"Why?" Hermione asked the laughter leaving her face.

"Just being paranoid I guess," Ginny said reaching over to touch Hermione's face.

"Mm," Hermione said thoughtfully, "I think we can trust Harry."

"I hope so," Ginny said leaning forward to touch her lips to Hermione's, loving the warmth she could feel at the places their bodies met, the electricity that sprung between those parts, singing its way throughout her body. Leaning closer she put her hands on Hermione's waist feeling bothered at the cloth between them. Without really thinking she moved her hands down and underneath Hermione's shirt, feeling her own heart pick up speed as she heard Hermione take in a breath at the feel of Ginny's hands on her skin.

The sound of doorknob turning jerked both of them out and Ginny leaned back, pulling her arms away from Hermione. Both of them looked towards the door, still out of breath. The door slowly swung open and Lavender came in carrying an armload of books. She glanced briefly at Hermione and Ginny then dumped the armload onto her bed.

"Hey Herm', Hey Gin'," she said flipping open her trunk.

"Hi," they said at the same time, trying to sound casual, but somehow the word came out strained and a little high.

"I can't find my lacey hair tie," she said in an exasperated voice, "And I really need it for the dance tomorrow night."

"You can borrow one of mine," Ginny offered but Lavender finally pulled a hair tie out from somewhere in the trunk then left the room. Ginny breathed a sigh of relief.

"God," Hermione said, "That was too close."

Ginny for a moment though she was referring to her putting her hands underneath Hermione's shirt, but immediately realized she was talking about Lavender. With a blush she nodded.

Hermione turned and look back at Ginny and for a moment they said nothing, just stared into each other's eyes.

"That was an intense kiss," Hermione whispered.

Ginny blushed again but smiled and asked, "Shall we continue it?"

"Mm, yes," Hermione agreed smiling mischievously, "But perhaps somewhere not so public."

* * *

On the way to Potions class Ginny's bag unceremoniously ripped and she was forced to stop and pick up all her books. 

"Weasley's little bag ripped hm?" Malfoy's voice rang out in the corridor. _Fuck_, Ginny thought grabbed the last book and picking up the stack trying to see if she could get away with ignoring him. He was striding down the hallway towards her, alone surprisingly; Crabbe and Goyle were nowhere to be seen.

When he reached her he turned and shoved her up against the wall, her books promptly fell out of her arms, scattering about onto the floor for the second time.

"Get off me," she said angrily. She was definitely going to be late for Potions now.

"Is it true?" he asked pinning her arms against the wall and bringing his face inches away from hers.

"Is what true?" Ginny spat back starting to feel a little worried.

"That Weasel's little sister and the Mudblood are lesbians? Are _dykes_?" he inquired his breath warm against her cheek.

"Does it matter?" she retorted back, "Now let me go before you lose half the points form your house when I accuse you of assault."

Malfoy stepped back a look of disgust on his face, "So it is true."

"Fuck off," she told him picking up her books quickly and standing up again.

"This is gonna be great," he crowed a delighted grin on his face as he turned to walk off. On impulse Ginny stepped forward and, because her hands were full, kicked him in the balls, hard. He immediately fell onto the ground gasping and Ginny hurried down the hallway slipping into the Potions classroom before he could do anything else.

**A/N: ****I remembered to put in line breaks to replace the stars that don't show up! For those of you who were wondering why scenes changed randomly, I type in Microsoft Word and insert stars between each event which for some reason don't come through when I upload the chapter.**

** jadz-98- ****They were in the common room at 5 am because hopefully no one would be there that early and since they were both having trouble sleeping they thought it would be a good place to get some time alone. In the commonroom its more likely to find a uneasy sleeper come down to sit in front of the fire. Malfoy had been there all alone, Hermione thought they were alone. Malfoy doesn't sleep very well either and often has a cup of coffee very early in the morning while tormenting house elves.**

**artemisjana- ****The reason I wrote a story where everyone thinks being gay is 'bad' is because I haven't been able to find many here at that do take that POV. ****The idea came to me recently after watching the t.A.T.u. music video for "All The Things She Said" and watching the first and second Harry Potter movies with all the students in their uniforms I could very easily visual Hermione and Ginny in place of the two girls Julia and Lena. ****In the real world there are a lot of homphobic people who would hurt homosexual people if they knew that they were homosexual. True story: some guy was hiking on the Appalachian trail and stumbled upon two women making love in their tent and promptly shot them both. It struck me at some point that though Hogwarts is open-minded in many aspects of life there really isn't any mention of homosexuality and even the nicest people can turn quite vicious when it comes to things like homosexuality. I take a look at the Slytherins and it seems like they would love the chance to jump on this minority group. **


	21. You're Mine

Ginny leaned against the wall out of breath. Hermione sat down against the wall next to her. They'd both gone into the Great Hall this morning to be greeting by a series of insulting remarks and boo's from the Slytherin table, even a few from the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw table. The rest of the people looked surprised and confused. The Professors had tried to shush them but rather than stay to find out what happened they'd both turned around and left, hurrying down the hallways until they were far enough away that they couldn't hear the yells anymore.

Ginny and Hermione had opted to skip the dance entirely and spent the evening, as Hermione had hoped, together in the common room. Ginny somehow suspected this had only made it easier for Draco to spread the word around though.

"Maybe, maybe people will think it's just a rumor and if we do nothing it'll fade," Hermione said faintly, staring straight ahead.

Ginny said nothing, a horrible awful feeling rising up in her. Up until now discovering her sexuality had been exciting and fun, aside from the part where Hermione had shunned her, but now… how could people be like that? She hadn't quite believed Hermione when she had said that they'd be rejected if anyone found out.

"Harry must have told Ron, and Ron must have let it leak out," Hermione said, in the same tone of voice she'd used before.

"No, it was Malfoy," Ginny admitted, thinking about the encounter from the day before. She'd been meaning to tell Hermione about it right after classes but what with everyone running around getting ready for the dance and all the homework and detention (from Snape for being late) she hadn't even gotten a chance to say hello to Hermione.

"Malfoy?" Hermione inquired looking at Ginny with wide eyes.

"Yes, he confronted me yesterday and I guess I sort of gave it away," Ginny said, that awful feeling welling up again.

"Gave it away?" Hermione asked curiously, moving into a standing position.

"He asked me if it was true that Weasel's little sister and the Mudblood were lesbians, and I asked him if it mattered," Ginny admitted her mouth twisting into an angry frown.

"Fuck him," Hermione said, "I hate his fucking, his whole fucking self. That whole house."

"I kicked him in the balls," Ginny told Hermione with a slight smile, "But I guess I should have acted disgusted and confused."

"Nice, kicking him in the balls I mean," Hermione said a smile twitching at the edge of her lips, "It's not your fault though, that he figured out. You didn't have to pretend to be confused and disgusted. It's what I might have done, but that's what I like about you. Don't ever stop being yourself."

Ginny smiled, it was hard to stay upset for too long when around Hermione, but that feeling of dread still lingered above them.

That first day wasn't that bad to Ginny's surprise. Harry brought lunch up for them, but said nothing except, "It wasn't me." Then he gave them a sort of uncomfortable look before leaving the common room again. They brought the food into the dormitory and ate it on Hermione's bed.

After that they'd been able to eat lunch in the Great Hall without much disturbance aside from the fact that no one sat less than two yards away from them and the occasional remark from the Slytherin table. Ginny's hoped that people would forget about it in another few days, discarding it as just a rumor. None of the Gryffindors seemed willing to confront Hermione and Ginny and ask if it was true yet, deciding to just keep their distance.

Hermione and Ginny both got up early the next morning hoping to avoid the usual rush of students. Hermione was finishing up her homework while Ginny read when Ron came into the common room. He walked over to them and looked at them pointedly.

"So this is why you wouldn't go out with me," he said softly. Hermione looked up, surprised, and opened her mouth to make a reply but Ron interrupted her.

"You said you didn't want to be in a relationship but really you just wanted to snog my little sister," he said, each word stinging like a bullet.

"I said I didn't want to be in a relationship with a guy," Hermione retorted.

"Oh, my bad for missing that little detail," Ron said angrily, "I can't believe you Hermione. And dragging Ginny into this, weirdness…"

"I was not-" Ginny started but Hermione interrupted her.

"Ginny was the one who made me see that this is who I really am," she told Ron fiercely.

"Who you really are?" Ron asked with a disgusted look, "I thought I knew you Hermione. I thought I knew my little sister. I hope you'll figure out that what you two are doing isn't right."

With that he left the common room.

"Fuck," Hermione said pushing her homework onto the floor, a tear sliding down her cheek. Ginny scooted over and wrapped her arms around the other girl.

"Its okay, it'll be okay," Ginny whispered softly as Hermione tried to wipe away the tears. "How can you say that it's going to be okay?" Hermione inquired, "Ron, he's been my best friend for years? How can he say those things?"

"Forget about him," Ginny said wiping Hermione's tears away with her thumb, "He just doesn't understand. He's afraid. We can make it through this together."

Hermione took a deep breath then gave a slight smile, "It just makes me so angry. I don't think it would have been that bad if he hadn't developed that stupid little crush. Jealousy plays a part too I think."

"You're mine though, I won't let him have you," Ginny whispered.

Hermione smiled a little shiver running down her spine at these words. Ginny pressed her lips against Hermione's in a fierce kiss.

When they broke apart she whispered, "I love you. I won't let anyone touch you."


	22. Straight But Not Narrow

**A/N: I've been really lazy this past month and haven't been putting in thank-you's to my reviewers. Only seven or so more chapters to go and this story will be finished! I've actually typed up to 26 I think, but I'm too lazy to put them all up at once... I keep getting distracted by my camera (I 3 photography) and end up only using my computer to touch up my photos. Anyway, this chapter is dedicated to reviewers of chapter 21 and 20: **

**Crazy Paving- You're not the first person to feel like I'm reading their thoughts. I guess I'm not the only teenager thats had issues determing my sexuality. And thanks for the really long review! Reviews like yours are worth ten "nice story" reviews, they keep us authors going!  
Lymaris  
Missa07  
Snowbear  
The gurl next door  
s3xy-Lady  
kendra21  
jadz98  
prin69  
Amon-100  
Risifruttiii  
artemisjana  
Baxter  
Galleon-to-Galleon  
JohnnyIsMine  
hot grl  
Little Tussi  
RandiCeal05  
slytherinqueen525 **

"Oh god, don't look now," Hermione said seeing the owl coming towards them with a fat red letter in its talons. Ginny glanced up and bit her lip. They were in the Great Hall despite the occasional remark made in their general direction.

The letter dropped onto the table in front of Ginny and shook itself a little before bursting out in Molly Weasely's voice, "GINNY WEASELY! I EXPECTED BETTER OF YOU! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'VE GOTTEN INTO SOMETHING LIKE THIS! AND WITH HERMIONE! BOTH OF YOU ARE GOOD GIRLS, BUT I WANT YOU TO STOP THIS NONSENSE _RIGHT NOW_!"

And with that the letter burst into flame, eventually dying down into a little pile of dust. Hermione took Ginny's hand and gave it a tight squeeze.

"They're your parents, they'll come through," Hermione whispered. The Hall had fallen silent, all eyes trained on the two girls. A moment later laughter and hoots broke out from most of the Slytherin table followed by people from the other three tables. Someone threw a cabbage in their general direction.

"Fuck off!" Hermione yelled wondering briefly if someone had changed their orange into a cabbage just for the purpose of throwing it or if they really had cabbages at the Slytherin table.

"Quiet!" Dumbledore yelled standing up, his voice magically amplified, "Ten points from every person who has made a rude noise or comment. Now sit down and eat your breakfast."

The jewels in the four hour glasses started dropping. Slytherin went down quite a lot putting Gryffindor in the lead for the House Cup. The hall was once again silent but this time instead of with expressions of disgust and fascination but with sullen anger.

"Perhaps you two girls ought to come with me," Professor McGonagall said from behind Hermione and Ginny, surprising the two of them.

Hermione stood up angrily with Ginny. Still holding hands, the two of them followed Professor McGonagall out of the hall. Glancing back she saw Ron staring hard into his food and Harry watching them go with an almost pitying look on his face.

"Ron must have told them," Ginny said angrily as they walked down the hallway.

"I can't believe him," Hermione said, "He can be irrational sometimes, but this?"

"At least your parents are muggles," Ginny said, "They can't send howlers."

"Hopefully they won't have to hear about any of this," Hermione said, "I can come out to them this summer and explain to them."

"Your parents will probably be fine with it," Ginny said, "Mine though, well, I wouldn't have thought Dad would mind too much, he's pretty easy going. I guess this is a shock to my Mum though."

McGonagall led them into her office and sat down behind her desk, offering them both some toast. Both girls shook their heads.

"As head of your house it's my responsibility to take care of this," McGonagall began, "I'm surprised you got yourself into this kind of mess Ms. Granger."

"Jesus, why can't I be a good top student and a lesbian?" Hermione snapped back, "It's not like Ginny and I are having unprotected sex and taking photos of it to sell to perverted boys."

"I didn't say that Ms. Granger," McGonagall responded, her expression cool, "Simply that you're the last person I'd expect to get this school into such an uproar."

"It's not my fault it's full of homophobic assholes," Hermione retorted.

"Language," McGonagall reminded her, "I'm assigned two ghosts to keep an eye on both of you to make sure trouble doesn't get stirred up and to alert a teacher if something does happen. How does that sound?"

"We don't need babysitting," Ginny said.

"The ghosts will remain out of site, this is not to make sure you don't kiss and have 'unprotected sex'. This is for your well-being," Professor McGonagall explained.

Ginny blushed and Hermione glanced down.

"I'd also recommend you go and talk to Madame Hooch," McGonagall said, "She may be able to give a few words of advice."

"Madame Hooch?" Ginny asked.

"Yes," McGonagall confirmed, "You may leave now."

"This is crazy," Hermione said once they left the classroom, "Why is everyone so surprised that I'm a lesbian just because I'm also a good student?"

"Stereotypes," Ginny suggested, "You know, like slutty bi girls and butch lesbians and stuff."

"God, can you imagine me as a butch lesbian?" Hermione asked starting to feel a little better. At least they had the staff on their side.

"Hm," Ginny said stopping and turning to study Hermione, "Might be kind of hot. I like the school girl look better though."

Hermione let out a little laugh and took both of Ginny's hands before kissing her.

"I'm glad I have you," Hermione whispered keeping her face close to Ginny's.

"But I wouldn't have gotten you into this mess if I'd never asked you if you'd ever wondered," Ginny whispered back.

"I'd rather have you right now, like this, than still be in denial and all alone," Hermione told Ginny fiercely, "Don't even think that any of this is your fault."

"This is exactly what you were afraid of though," Ginny said.

"I don't care, we all have to face our fears at some point," Hermione reminded her.

"I love you," Ginny said leaning forward to kiss Hermione again. A few moments later they started walking down the hallway to see Luna coming towards them.

"Hermione? Ginny? I just wanted to say that I totally support homosexuals," she said in her dreamy voice.

"Oh," Hermione said feeling a little uncomfortable.

"Thank-you," Ginny said to Luna with a smile. Luna smiled back then continued on past them.

"Did you see the pin on her bag?" Ginny asked once they were out of hearing range.

"No," Hermione shook her head.

"It said, 'Straight, but not narrow'," Ginny told Hermione with a grin.

"Seriously? That's- hilarious," Hermione said a smile breaking out on her face, "This school is turning upside down."


	23. GSA?

**A/N: This chapter is a bit of a filler I think.. basically just gives information; I can't wait to put up the chapters after this one! This one is dedicated to: RonaldYHarry, Aviane, jadz98, daniluvsyanot, Little Tussi, s3xy-Lady, The Angel's Devil, Tha gurl next door, Risifruttiii, SuperGirl06, slytherinqueen525, starwitrobin, Alice Dodgson, Snowbear, Leology, and artemisjana.**

It a few days before Hermione got used to seeing one of the ghosts always in the corner of her vision. While walking down the hallway she'd get the prickling sensation on the back of her neck and turn around to see a ghost floating there. Most of the time it was rather pretty but solemn looking boy but other times she'd spy a wrinkled old lady. Ginny's ghost was apparently more talkative, a girl whose name was Sanne and who'd attended Hogwarts but gotten killed in a Quidditch accident. Ginny said that she hadn't asked much more about her death though as it seemed to upset the girl. If other students happened to give Hermione a dirty look or open their mouths to say something to Hermione the old lady would float over and either just float through the person or else start talking a creaky old voice that was impossible to understand and pat the offensive person on the head, effectively freaking them out and mostly taking people's minds off of Hermione. Only a few people had caught on that the ghosts were following Hermione and Ginny around.

"I didn't realize there were that many ghosts at Hogwarts," Ginny later mused staring up at the sky as orange and red leaves blew around. It was cooler now, no longer t-shirt weather. Hermione pulled her summer robes a little tighter around herself and lay back on the grass next to Ginny.

"I think most of them stay out of the way," Hermione guessed, "I suspect they can be invisible if they want to though."

"That gives me a kind of freaky feeling, like what if they're spying on us all the time?" Ginny asked turning her head to look at Hermione.

"They don't feel the same though, I don't think things like that are as important to them," Hermione said thoughtfully. She could see the old lady was poking at some grass with a cane a few yards away them. Ginny's girl was floating around high up in the air.

"Still don't know the names of yours yet?" Ginny asked watching as the old lady bent down to peer at some leaves.

"Nope," Hermione said, "I tried to talk to the boy but he gave me a sullen look and stepped through a wall."

"Hm," Ginny said moving her hand over and entwining her fingers with Hermione's. Hermione glance down at their hands, her own long pale fingers and Ginny's pinker ones, with freckles sprinkled lightly on her arm. Moving her eyes up to Ginny's face she admired the deep liquid chocolate brown eyes, bright red hair, smooth lips and stubborn chin. That increasingly familiar warm fuzzy feeling spread through out her body and she leaned over, planting a kiss firmly on Ginny's lips.

"I suppose it's okay if anyone sees us now, since we've been outed already," Ginny whispered.

"Mm," Hermione agreed as Ginny leaned up and kissed Hermione again rolling so that she was her turn to lean over Hermione.

* * *

"Madame Hooch? Professor McGonagall wanted us to come talk to you," Hermione said hesitantly looking around the office. She'd never actually been here before. She supposed Harry had though, being on a Quidditch team. 

The flying instructor appeared a moment later, her yellow hawk-like eyes scanning the room briefly before settling on Hermione and Ginny. She pulled off a pair of sawdust covered gloves which she tossed onto a desk before smiling broadly.

"I suppose you're wondering why you were sent to me hm?" she asked. Hermione instantly felt a liking for Madam Hooch. The only time she'd really interacted with her was in their first year during flying lessons.

"I'm the head of the school's, hm, it doesn't really have a name actually, we refer to it as 'the club'. I suppose you could call it a GSA," Madame Hooch explained sitting down behind her desk. Hermione took a few steps into the office and sat down at one of the wooden chairs stationed in front of the desk.

"GSA?" Ginny inquired hesitantly sitting down as well.

"A gay-straight alliance?" Hermione raised an eyebrow.

Madame Hooch smiled and nodded, "You two aren't the only ones in this school. Though I think you're the only out ones."

"Who else is?" Ginny asked her eyes widening.

"Only five others," Hooch said, "Not including myself. After an incident years ago Dumbledore decided we need some way for teenagers to cope with this sort of thing."

Hermione had always known that there were a few clubs drifting around but no one really spoke much about them and Hermione had never bothered to inquire further.

"We normally meet in the middle of the Quidditch field, very peaceful out there, this week's meeting is actually due to start in just a few minutes," Hooch said running a hand through her wispy gray hair."

"Can we come?" Ginny asked.

Madame Hooch laughed lightly, "Of course. That's why Minerva sent you to me. If you two ever have any questions regarding anything really just come to me."

Ginny and Hermione smiled and followed Hooch down the hallway and through a small door that led directly outside. A few minutes later they were sitting on the cool grass in the middle of the Quidditch pitch.

The first member to come striding over was a slytherin girl who looked to be in Hermione's year. Her long hair was pulled back into a ponytail though by the way she walked it would have been easy to mistake her for a boy at a distance. She paused seeing Hermione and Ginny, raising one eyebrow, before settling down in the grass across from them. Five minutes later four other students had joined them.

"So you two are the lesbians causing the fuss around here then," a boy said. He had glasses shortish black hair and robes that identified him as a Ravenclaw., "I'm Stephen."

Ginny blushed and shrugged. The other four students identified themselves as Tracey, the Slytherin girl, Megan, a Hufflepuff in Harry's year with short curly blonde hair, Wayne, another Hufflepuff in Harry's year with whispy brown hair, and Kevin, two years younger than Ginny with a very pretty face and golden blonde hair. After that they proceeded to not give Hermione and Ginny any extra attention and started talking about abortion after Megan brought up the reference to abortion laws in the last edition of the Daily Prophet.


	24. Homophobic People

**A/N: Whoa, I got a lot of reviews for that last chapter ! does happy dance Today I participated in the Day of Silence at my school (I slipped nine times though) and it was pretty neat. I got an idea for how my teachers look at homosexuals. We have a Equality Club but so far we haven't gotten much enthusiasm for it and we're trying to get more members. We did get a lot of people participate in the Day of Silence! does another happy dance Most of my teachers said something like, "Oh, hm. Okay" and smiled. Though my math teacher sort of glanced at the paper I handed him explaining the day of silence then handed it back saying dismisively "thank you", so I think perhaps he has issues with gay people. And I SO have gaydar because this girl in my first block I was pretty sure she was gay and I found her myspace a few days ago and I'm right:-P Anyway, this one is dedicated to: mayfairchild14, Iggina Rae Moose, justamuggle, s3xy-Lady, Risifruttiii, Aviane, LunaML, EagleRay, prin69. artemisjana, RedEyesDarknessDragonLady, Vld, Little Tussi, Baxter, Snowbear, RonaldYHarry, and MusicalElphie.**

"I had no idea that these people I've see while walking through the hallways were gay," Ginny said later to Hermione.

"People had no idea we were gay," Hermione said with a frown. Ginny glanced back at the two ghosts that were following them. Sanne was floating near the ceiling, drifting around and looking as if she mostly enjoying herself. Hermione's solemn boy was pretending to walk along the floor with a rather vague look on his face. He didn't seem to be paying attention to where he was going, but students avoided him either way.

"Here's my class," Hermione said pausing in front of the door to her Ancient Runes class.

"I'll see you at lunch," Ginny said giving Hermione a hug, but not sure if it would be okay to kiss her in such a public spot. Hermione glanced around and only seeing one other student gave Ginny a quick kiss before letting the other girl out of her embrace.

"Love you," she said before slipping into the classroom, and then Ginny was standing alone in the hallway. Sanne was still drifting near the ceiling watching Ginny with her arms crossed but Hermione's boy had stepped through the wall into the classroom after Hermione.

Ginny stepped away from the door and continued on to her own class, Transfiguration. The GSA meeting had been quite interesting as Ginny had expected, she'd expected to discuss gay rights but the abortion debate had been fairly interesting and to her surprise she'd found herself getting involved in it rather than just listening. Hooch explained that mainly the students would talk about issues they were interested in, or problems they'd been having, it was not necessarily a 'gay' centered club.

When Transfiguration was over Ginny waited near the doors to the Great Hall for Hermione but after standing there for fifteen minutes Hermione had still not arrived. Feeling worried she stepped into the Great Hall and walked over to the Gryffindor table where Harry and Ron were eating lunch.

"Have either of you seen Hermione?" she asked softly, not entirely sure if Ron would be willing to speak to her. Ron stared down at his food, not answering but Harry shook his head.

"Oh," Ginny replied then turned and left feeling a rise of annoyance at her homophobic close-minded brother. Once outside of the Great Hall she felt a brush of something cold and saw Sanne standing next to her.

"I think Hermione's in trouble," she said softly.

Ginny's heart nearly missed a beat, she would have grabbed Sanne by the shoulders if she could and shaken her and yelled "where?", but as she couldn't touch Sanne she just blurted out the question, "where?"

"Emo-boy was last near the girl's bathroom," Sanne replied. Ginny guessed that 'emo-boy' was Sanne's nickname for the solemn faced ghost that followed Hermione around. Ginny rushed up the steps, taking them two at a time towards the girl's bathroom, not the one the Myrtle haunted.

'Emo-boy' was floating towards the bathroom with Professor McGonagall following him just as Ginny turned into the hallway. She got the door about the same time as the Professor and burst through the door, pausing to look around the bathroom. Hermione was standing at a sink holding a wad of damp paper towels up to a black eye.

"Oh dear," Professor McGonagall said as Ginny rushed over. Hermione glanced in surprise at the sudden intrusion, she seemed to be holding together quite fine before they'd come in, but now seeing Ginny and Professor McGonagall she seemed about ready to burst into tears.

"Let me see," Ginny whispered softly taking the paper towels from Hermione. Her eye was nearly swollen shut and had started turning quite vivid colors.

"Did they hurt you anywhere else?" she asked holding Hermione's face with her hands.

Hermione shrugged trying to put on a brave face, "Just sort of kicked me around some, mostly name calling."

Ginny turned to 'emo-boy' and demanded angrily, "Why didn't you do anything?"

"I did," he answered softly.

"He came and fetched me as fast he could," McGonagall responded, "Let's go and get you to Madame Pomfrey, she'll patch you up in minutes."

"I'm fine," Hermione protested. Ginny gave her look and moved her hands down to entwine her fingers with Hermione's.

Five minutes later Hermione was sitting on one of the beds with Ginny next to her sipping a strange concoction that would apparently heal her up 'right quick'.

"They're just afraid," Ginny said after a while, breaking the silence. Professor McGonagall had stayed for a little bit to make sure Hermione was being taken care of but was pressed for time and had left.

"People are afraid of what they don't understand," Ginny explained, talking about the ones who had hurt Hermione, "And they face their fear by using anger, to control it."

"Yes I know, but I still hate them for it," Hermione said pursing her lips, "And stupidity I guess. Close-minded people. It just, makes me want to go and beat the crap out of them; except that wouldn't solve anything."

Ginny scooted closer to Hermione, putting her arm around the other girl's waist and whispered in her ear, "They're really just afraid of themselves though, afraid that they see something in themselves in us."

"You mean Malfoy is gay?" Hermione asked with a smile, taking another sip of the potion.

Ginny frowned, "He could be. I think everyone is a little gay."

"He is a bit of a pretty-boy," Hermione admitted. Ginny allowed herself a small grin.

"Next time I see him I'm going to smash his pretty little face in," Hermione said with a smile. Ginny ran a hand through her hair and pulled her close as Hermione set down the cup after draining the last of it.

"I won't let them get near you next time," Ginny whispered in Hermione's ear, "They can't touch us on the inside. On the inside it's just me and you, and no one can get near that, no one can hurt what has formed between us."

"I love you," Hermione whispered back kissing Ginny's lips gently.

"I love you too," Ginny breathed before pressing her lips back against Hermione's and letting herself get lost in the kiss, parting her lips as Hermione's tongue touched them gently, seeking entrance.

A few minutes later they were jerked out of their kiss but the sound of someone clearing their throat. Ginny looked over to see that Professor McGonagall had come back.

"I've decided to have two house elves each escort you to your classes. They have permission to perform whatever magic necessary to protect you. You won't be deducted points if you use magic yourselves against other students, but only if they attack you first," she explained. Standing behind her was Dobby and three other elves Ginny didn't recognize.

"Dobby asked to be allowed to guard you Ms. Granger," McGonagall told the two girls.

"Dobby thinks it a great honor to be allowed to help Harry Potter's friends," he said earnestly.


	25. Craving You

**A/N: WARNING! This chapter has suggestive scenes in it. :-) I'm pissed that wasn't working this past week.. couldn't login or submit reviews so I guess everyone read the last chapter but if the same thing was afflicting everyone else's computers then I understand why you didn't review. :-( I'm such a review-whore. I love reviews. They make my day. This chapter is dedicated to: Tha gurl next door, Missa07, justamuggle, gabseidora, s3xy-Lady, MikoTaijiya, and Aviane. **

"Want to go into Hogsmeade this weekend?" Ginny asked Hermione as they walked down towards the lake. Dobby was skipping behind them along with Tinker and in front of them Mudge and Grendel were walking. Hermione was actually getting rather annoyed with the two house elves. Mudge wasn't that bad but Dobby had a hard time shutting up.

"As long as we can find some Ridalin for Dobby," Hermione said seriously.

Ginny grinned and glanced back at Dobby. So far they hadn't encountered any trouble after being assigned the house elves. Ron still refused to speak to them but Harry at least smiled at them and said hello though he did still seem a little uncomfortable.

"Mm, don't think they have that in the wizard world," Ginny said glancing up at the sky.

"Winter break is coming up," Hermione said following Ginny's gaze. The sky was the pure white color that hints of snow though the air temperature wasn't chilly enough for any snow to stick. It'd melt on the way down. The temperature was cool enough though that with the wind it was enough to make Hermione want to run back inside and curl up by a warm fire.

"And that stupid New Year's ball thing," Ginny said twisting her mouth.

"Don't frown, be happy" Hermione said with a smile turning to face Ginny and putting a finger on her lips before bring up her other finger to touch the corner's of Ginny's mouth. Ginny smiled in response. Moving her hands to Ginny's cheeks she stepped closer and kissed Ginny softly. Ginny wrapped her arms around Hermione and hugged the other girl tighter sending a tingle down Hermione's spine despite the layers of clothing between them. Hermione always felt amazed at the way her body responded to Ginny's touch, amazed at the way her heart lifted upon seeing Ginny's face. She hadn't known it was even possible to feel all these different things and as she kissed Ginny she wondered what it be like to see the other girl naked, to touch her soft skin, to- Hermione decided to stop herself there but even as they were forced to pause for a breath the thoughts still lingered and her body still craved more.

They continued walking down towards the lake and sat down on a few rocks next to the shore. The water no longer lapped against the shore as the top layer of the lake had started to freeze.

"Have you noticed the looks people give us sometimes?" Hermione asked.

"Yes," Ginny said. Though with house elves following them around people didn't bother them, the hatred in their eyes chilled Hermione. Hatred wasn't even the worst; most of the people would give them pitying looks, looks of confusion or disgust. Lavender at least, and Paravati, had made an attempt to keep things normal between them and Hermione, but Hermione could see how stiff they were when they talked, as if they were afraid that Hermione would flirt with them or try to check them out. She felt grateful though that they had tried to shove away their discomfort.

Ginny turned her head and kissed Hermione's cheek then her lips as Hermione turned her own head to meet Ginny. Her lips tingled where they touched Ginny's, fuzziness spread throughout her body.

"I'm craving you," Hermione whispered, the words slipping from her lips, her face still centimeters away from Ginny's, their breath mixing and turning into steam in the cool air.

Ginny scooted around, bring her leg over Hermione's so she was sitting on the other girl's lap, their bodies pressed closer and whispered before pressing her lips against Hermione's once again, "I crave you too."

Hermione kissed Ginny back fiercely and when they finally broke apart she gasped, "Let's go somewhere more private."

Ginny nodded quickly and they clambered to their feet hands holding tight to each other as they hurried towards the castle.

"Where can we go?" Ginny whispered.

"I don't know, broom closet?" Hermione suggested. Ginny made a face and Hermione giggled.

"Room of Requirement," Ginny said with a grin.

"But what if- you can can't lock that room," Hermione said as they pushed open a door into the castle.

"As long as no one comes by wanting to use it for the same reason they won't be able to get in," Ginny said.

Hermione grinned as well, "I don't think anyone else will be looking for it for the reason we are."

Ginny laughed, "Unless it was some boy wishing his fantasies could come true…"

Hermione found herself giggling again as a tingle ran down her back at the heat in Ginny's words. They pushed through the door into the Room of Requirement and barely paused to look around the room that had been supplied before Ginny's mouth was on Hermione's and they were shedding their heavy coats and tugging off their boots. It wasn't until they were both down to their bras and underwear that they paused to catch a breath.

"Are you sure you really want to do this?" Ginny breathed taking in Hermione's body.

"The bible says sex before marriage is wrong, but since we're both girls, it's not really sex right?" Hermione asked.

Ginny grinned wickedly, "I like your logic."

They both paused another moment eyes flickering over each other's body before Ginny stepped closer and touched Hermione's waist, her fingers cool against her skin. Ginny kissed her slowly sliding her hands up to undo the clasp that held her bra on before pushing her gently onto the bed, her hands residing briefly on Hermione's breasts before moving them down.


	26. Bubbles

**A/N: I have my first horse show tomorrow! does happy dance A lot of reviewers were miffed at my cliff hanger last chapter but I decided to keep this PG-13. :-( You'll just have to imagine "what went on in that little old room" as s3xy-Lady put it.**** :-P This chapter is dedicated to: iknomeOO, prin69, Aviane, Missa07, jadz98, Amon-100, artemisjana, s3xy-Lady, Risifruitti, Little Tussi, MikoTaijiya, starwitrobin, aliana granger, MusicalElphie, LunaML, and Snowbear.  
**

"The house elves must be just waiting outside, twiddling their thumbs," Ginny said with a laugh as they lay half under the sheets curled up close to each other now that their hungers had been appeased. Hermione curled her fingers around Ginny's loving, relishing, the feel of her skin against Ginny's with absolutely nothing in between.

"Anyone walking by will be like: what are those house-elves doing there?" Hermione said grinning.

"Mm, we should probably get dressed," Ginny said with a sigh then turned over onto her side to look into Hermione's eyes.

"I can't believe just three months ago I was in the closet and you didn't even _know_ you were gay," Ginny commented.

"Seems like forever," Hermione said with a smile, "I'm glad I'm not there anymore. I feel so much more, open, and free…"

"And naked," Ginny teased.

"I think I could get used to being naked," Hermione said, "I've never been naked except in the shower, and when I was little."

"Maybe once we graduate we can find a little house somewhere out in the country and secretly be nudists," Ginny replied.

"That'd be nice," Hermione said wistfully.

"Graduation still seems so far away though," Ginny said voicing Hermione's thoughts.

"I think things are starting to die down," Hermione said hopefully, reaching over to tuck a strand of bright red hair behind Ginny's ear.

"Me too," Ginny agreed.

"I love you," Hermione said simply, "I don't think I even knew what love was before I fell in love with you."

Ginny grinned, "I love you too."

Hermione said nothing and Ginny was content to just lay there gazing into Hermione's eyes. Someone had once told her that your eyes were the windows to your soul and in this moment Ginny felt that that was true. She must be the luckiest person in the world to have a girl like Hermione. Lucky that the girl she'd been crushing on for years was suddenly hers. Lucky that Hermione really was the open-minded Ginny had always known she was.

"What time is it?" Hermione whispered.

Ginny glanced around the room and spied a clock above the door. It read 7:30. They'd gone down to the lake after finishing most of their homework for the weekend. Most of the students would probably be at dinner around now. With the rise of these thoughts Ginny's stomach rumbled, deciding that it was ready for dinner too.

"Dinner time?" Hermione guessed with a smile.

"Yup," Ginny said and stretched out her arms before swinging her legs over the edge of the bed and standing up.

"Now I have to find my underwear," she said peering at the clutter of clothing at the end of the bed.

Hermione pushed back the sheets and lifted up a pair of little black underwear, "These what you were looking for?"

Ginny blushed and took the underwear from Hermione. The next quarter of an hour was spent sorting through the pile of clothes and shaking out the sheets until finally they were both fully clothed.

"My clothes feel all confining now," Ginny complained.

"They're very cute clothes though," Hermione said studying the loose knee length jean skirt, bare knees, crocheted leg warmers and a pair of worn leather shoes. She was wearing a knit sweater that looked like her mom must have made it and her wool coat and knit hat were draped over one arm.

"We should probably shower before going to dinner," Ginny said studying the rumpled look they both had.

"Most definitely," Hermione said, "We can use the prefects' bathroom."

"I'm not a prefect though," Ginny reminded her.

"Yes, but I am," Hermione said, "No one will mind that you aren't. And I doubt there'll be anyone else there."

"Sounds good to me," Ginny said with a grin.

Another hour later they were both dressed in clean clothes and heading down to the Great Hall. The bathing had taken longer than expected due to the pool-like size of the bath tub and the excessive amount of bubbles which led to less washing and more playing.

By now most of the students were finished eating and the hall was more than half empty; though Ginny spied Harry and Ron still eating near the end of the table.

"Shall we?" she asked glancing towards them then back at Hermione. Hermione shrugged and Ginny slipped her hand into the other girl's and led the way over to Ron and Harry.

The two boys looked up as the two girls drew near but said nothing. Ginny sat down across from them and Hermione sat down next to her. Pretending nothing was unusual Ginny started helping herself to the chicken and rice that the house elves had cooked up. The four house elves were staying out of the way, as they had most of evening. Ginny guessed they must have made them a little uncomfortable and bit back a smile.

"So, uh, how was your afternoon?" Harry asked finally. Ron glared at his food.

Ginny blushed, "It was nice."

Hermione poured herself a glass of water and glanced at Ginny with a smile, "It was most excellent."

Ginny blushed again and glanced at Harry and Ron. Harry looked even more uncomfortable than he had before.

"How's class been?" Hermione asked.

"Good," Harry replied. An awkward silence followed.

"Are you guys going into Hogsmeade tomorrow?" Ginny asked breaking the silence.

Harry shrugged, "Dunno, I have lots of homework."

"I can always help you with it," Hermione suggested.

"Ah well, I do need to learn it myself really," Harry said, "I'll probably have time to go either way. Are you two going?"

Hermione glanced at Ginny who nodded. Ron gave Harry a look.

"Great, I'll see you there," Harry said, "I promised to play chess against Seamus though so I really ought to be going."

"Okay, see you later," Hermione said putting on a bright face though Ginny thought it felt as though they were just trying to get away. The rest of the meal continued in silence though Ginny kept her hand on Hermione's, reminding them both that they'd always have each other.


	27. Snow

**A/N: Sorry for taking so long in getting this up, I've been working on a critical anaylsis paper for English. I hope you guys forgive me! This one is dedicated to: Aviane, Tdvu, Amon-100, LunaML, Snowbear, Little Tussi, Risifruttiii, s3xy-Lady, MikoTaijiya, brittney, tefy, starwitrobin, and Eagle Ray. **

The next day was cool and blustery with light flurries but despite the unpleasant weather half the school was lined up to go into Hogsmeade as usual. Hermione glanced at Ginny standing next to her and smiled feeling her heart lift as Ginny met her gaze. She hadn't seen Harry or Ron yet but she could always hope.

"They'll come around in time," Ginny said seeing Hermione glance around.

Down in Hogsmeade the snow started coming down heavily and several students starting scraping up the first centimeters and throwing it at each other. Others hurried for shops. It felt like Hermione's breath was freezing on her face and the wind bit right through her coat so, taking Ginny's hand, the two of them rushed into the Three Broomsticks.

Pushing the door shut behind them Ginny and Hermione waited a moment to warm up before looking around the place for a table, most of them seemed full. Hermione spied Wayne and Kevin sitting at a table near the corner and led Ginny over there.

"Oh no, don't come to this table… you'll draw attention to us," Kevin said jokingly in a rather gay voice. He ran a hand through his blonde hair in a way that had to make the girls in his year swoon.

"Stop acting," Wayne said rolling his eyes before looking at Hermione and Ginny, "He gets like this sometimes. Where he feels like he has to fulfill the stereotype that gay guys have."

"You know you like it," Kevin teased Wayne. Wayne actually blushed and glanced down into his butterbeer.

"So which of you is the man in the relationship?" Wayne asked seriously, "I'm the man in ours. Though that's easy to guess because Kevin is so girly."

"I am not a girl," Kevin said flipping his hand, "Girls are sissies. I am a man, the kind of man who can admire the strength and emotion in his fellow men."

Ginny giggled, Kevin and Wayne hadn't been quite like this at the meeting, both had been much more serious. It hadn't been obvious before that the two of them were together, but now Wayne's statement made that clear.

"Shut up, before people start looking at us," Wayne said with a grin. No one was really paying attention though, the fact that this table was in the corner gave them extra privacy.

The waitress brought over two butterbeers for Ginny and Hermione plunking them down on the table and the four of them shut up momentarily.

Hermione sipped at her butterbeer while gazing out the window. Ginny quickly became engaged in a debate about feminism. Looking at the four of them Hermione felt almost lost, once again surprised at how fast things change. It was still just a little strange to think of herself sitting here talking with two other gay students. She felt an ache inside her though for the way things used to be. To when she and Harry and Ron would sit around the fire and talk about how Sirius was doing or what Voldemort was up to or how Lupin faired. She really hadn't talked to Harry and Ron in months though, not more than a few words. She should write to Lupin, she hadn't heard from him in a while though she supposed he was still in contact with Harry. Hermione wondered what he thought about all this. Would he support her and Ginny?

"Well we both have homework to do so we must be off," Wayne said finally standing up and shrugging into his coat. Kevin pulled on a hat and gloves as they pushed their chairs in.

"Hm, we should probably get going as well," Ginny said glancing out the window. It was already starting to get dark, with huge flakes of snow falling down, though they didn't seem to be falling quite as fast or close as the smaller flakes that had been coming down when they'd first arrived.

"Yes, let's just finish our butterbeers," Hermione agreed. A few minutes later Hermione had paid for the butterbeers and they were heading out the door. They were greeting with a cold gust sending snow into their faces. Ginny laughed.

"We should go ice-skating tomorrow," she said happily, "Or ice-sliding really."

"Ice-falling," Hermione suggested as they picked there way along the mushy road. Most students didn't have ice-skates and would just slide around on the ice in their sneakers.

"Let's stop by the lake," Ginny said glancing up at the sky. The snow seemed to be letting up.

"Alright," Hermione agreed breathing in the fresh air deeply. The cold gave it a fresh spark filling you with energy as the snow washed out all the impurities in it.

The ice that covered the lake was almost black without the sun or moon shining on it, reflecting the dark water beneath it. Hermione took Ginny's hand and gave it a squeeze as they gazed out upon its still surface.

"Well what do we have here?" a voice asked as Hermione heard the footsteps of someone or someones behind her. Spinning around she saw a group of slytherins, different years, possibly a few from other houses mixed in.

Draco Malfoy, of course, was the one at the front, his mouth fixed in that permanent sneer of his. Feeling a rush of anger Hermione rushed forward towards Malfoy, a flash of surprise passed over his face; he hadn't been expecting an outright attack. Stopping in front of him she pulled back her hand and punched him, square in the jaw. He stumbled backwards, tripping, and falling onto his back.

"Why don't you go burn in hell Malfoy?" she asked him. Ginny hurried forward and grabbed Hermione's hand realizing, unlike Hermione, that they were far enough away from the castle that any shouts could be concealed, that it was dark enough that no one could see them, and that she and Hermione were outnumbered somewhere around five to one.


	28. Don't Let Go

**A/N: Tomorrow I turn seventeen! does happy dance Sorry for the shortish chapter, more descriptions less talking. And sorry for taking a while in getting this up. Dedications to: oos, LunaML, s3xy-Lady, Little Tussi, A Smirking Bitch, jadz98, MikoTaijiya, lover girl, EagleRay, Snowbear, MusicalElphie, and Aviane. **

"Oh, I rather think the two of you are the ones God is sending to hell," Malfoy said as his comrades helped him up. He touched his lip gingerly; already a large bruise was forming.

"I don't believe in hell," Ginny retorted, surprising herself with her own bravery as she pulled out her wand.

"You will once we're done with you," a Slytherin yelled. Ginny gripped Hermione's hand tighter.

"Don't let go," she whispered to Hermione while staring boldly into the faces of those who opposed them. How could someone feel so much hatred? The group of Slytherins surged forward and Ginny felt hands grabbing her arms, legs, her robes and felt herself yanked away from Hermione, their fingers slipping. She tried to point her wand at them and yelled out a spell but her wand was forcefully ripped from her grasp and tossed aside. She heard a crunch and feared that they had broken it. What felt like hundreds of hands pushed her to the ground, into the freezing muddy slush that the snow had created.

Ginny screamed out in anger and kicked back, punched, bit, feeling anger consume her such that she hadn't felt before. Glancing over between legs and bodies she saw Hermione, her eyes wide, as their fingers lost grasp and she was lost in the crowd. Someone kicked Ginny's head and she fell face first into the mud and feet jammed into her ribs making her cough and sputter. Someone pushed down on her head as if attempting to suffocate her in the wet grass, mud and snow. She felt someone pull her robes soaked and muddy robes off and shivered, beneath her robes all she had were her jeans and knit-sweater. Ginny felt a rush of horror as she realized they meant to hurt her and Hermione seriously, rape them, kill them, or both. This couldn't be happening. How had her life gotten to this point? Was it possible to go uphill and downhill at the same time?

"Hermione!" she screamed out forcing herself to her knees and peering through angry faces for that one face she knew and loved. All she saw was hatred. Someone pushed her onto her back and she felt a jolt of pain, and suddenly her whole body ached and she realized she must be covered in cuts and bruises by now; and it was only going to get worse.

"Shut up dyke!" someone yelled at her and she felt another stab of fear. Pain coursed throughout her body now and she curled up into a little ball trying to ignore it, wishing they would just stop.

"STOP!"

Ginny opened her eyes and glanced up, the Slytherins had let go of her and were staring at someone. It had sounded like Harry. Ginny's her lifted in hope. Then she felt someone grab her and roughly pull her to her feet; the infamous Slytherin Malfoy. He dragged her to the front of the crowd where she saw Harry and Ron, backed up by Luna and Neville. There wands were pointing straight at the Slytherins. She felt a sharp point press into her throat and saw that it was Malfoy's wand.

"Give me one reason not to," he drawled.

"One? I'll give you a hundred!" Ron shouted angrily. Ginny spun around and brought her knee up sharply into Malfoy's crotch. He doubled over in pain dropping his wand just as four streaks of red flew from Harry, Ron, Luna, and Neville's wand. Sparks of all different colors starting flying after that and Ginny dropped to her knees to look for Hermione.

"Ginny!" Hermione shouted. There! Ginny pushed her way between legs, tears streaking down her dirty face as she saw a cut that seemed to be leaking blood all over the place on Hermione's forehead.

Ginny felt an instant of pain and realized someone had hit her with a curse as purple light flickered over her body. She glanced back at Hermione whose eyes had widened in horror as the world slowly got fuzzy and turned black.


	29. Love

Hermione sat at the top of the hill underneath the tree she and Ginny had so often sat together reading, talking, laughing, playing, kissing. Tears stung her eyes and she angrily brushed them over, moving her gaze to the lake. The whole countryside was sparkling white, the lake only distinguishable by the dock and slight indentation at its banks. The sky was a clear blue and the sun was shining brightly. You could hear the trees dripping, the sun melting the snow off the branches; though the air was still cool. Hermione pulled her winter cloak more tightly around her, relishing the feel of the cold air cutting into her lungs.

Half the Slytherin house had been expelled for "physical violence". Hermione felt they should have added homophobia, sexual harassment and evil "tendencies". She kicked at the snow angrily leaning forward and bunching a wad of it with her hands into a snowball. Once she'd packed it into a almost rock hard snitch sized ball she had no idea what to do with it. Throw it? But where? She squeezed it hard with her hands, trying to take her anger out on it. Finally she turned around and threw it at the tree where it shattered into billions of flakes of snow, resuming its original form.

"Hey." A person sat down next to her. Harry.

"Hi."

"How're you doing?" he asked poking at the snow with his wand.

"Okay," Hermione said still feeling a cold towards him despite his and Ron's rescue.

"Listen, I feel awful about what happened. In a way I feel like its my fault," Harry explained drawing circles.

"It's not your fault," Hermione stated, "It was mostly Slytherins. Close-minded ass holes that they are."

"I should have been there for you two, supported you," Harry continued.

"Yes, you should have," Hermione agreed still not looking at him.

"I'm sorry," Harry said.

"I'm sorry too," Ron's voice said. Hermione turned around to see Ron trudging up. He sat down on her other side.

Hermione suddenly felt a rush of relief, a rush of gratitude towards the two of them. It felt so great to know that the three of them were friends again that it was as if a huge clenching weight had suddenly disappeared. As if she'd been holding her breath all year long. She put her arms around and put them both one around each of them pulling them a little closer.

"Thank you," she whispered feeling the tears start to slip down her cheeks, wet and hot.

"I can't believe I was such an idiot," Ron said.

"You were a real ass hole actually," Hermione said, her voice cracking slightly.

"I was afraid I guess," Ron admitted, "I don't know. It's hard to understand where feelings come from."

"With you on that one," Hermione said smiling slightly.

"So, uh, can I ask you a question?" Ron asked carefully.

"Sure," Hermione said.

"How long were you two, you know?" he inquired a faint blush creeping up his cheeks, "I mean, was this going on ever since you became friends or was it more recent?"

"Just since the start of the school year," Hermione said softly, remembering the day Ginny had asked her if she'd ever wondered if she was gay. So afraid and shy, she must have felt so alone.

"Ah," Ron said.

"I can't believe this school is homophobic," Harry said, "I had no idea."

"I had an idea, I was one of them several months ago," Hermione admitted, "Ginny helped me find who I truly was."

"You love her." Ron said. It was a statement, not a questions.

"Yes," Hermione agreed.

Harry glanced at his watch, "It's just about time. We should get back up to the castle."

"Yeah," Hermione said her heart lifting as she stood up, brushing snow off her robes.

* * *

In the hospital wing Ginny sat wearing her pajamas, flannel pants and a baggy t-shirt, leaning against the headboard of the bed, sipping at a cup of water. Hermione nearly ran over to her hugging her fiercely and giving her a quick firm kiss. Ron and Harry stood at the end of her bed. 

"How do you feel?" Hermione asked, her voice barely louder than a whisper. The curse could have killed her had it been cast by a full wizard with truer intent and purer hatred. As it was they'd managed to get her up the castle quick enough for Madame Pomfrey, and a few other Healers that had magically apparated to the school upon hearing the news, to stop the effects of the curse and heal the damage it had done. They'd been "operating" half the night, leaving her in a deep trance for another 12 hours. It was 2:10 now, she'd been due to wake up around 2.

"Never better," Ginny said with a grin touching Hermione's face with her hand, "I have quite a pretty scar though."

"Where?" Hermione asked not seeing anything obvious on her face or arms.

"Back of neck," Ginny said twisting around and pulling the collar of her shirt down. A pink zigzag traced from the middle of her neck down to the tops of her shoulder blades.

"Sexy," Hermione said with a grin, tracing it lightly with a finger.

Ginny turned back around and seemed to notice Harry and Ron for the first time. She smiled at them, her expression saying, I forgive you.

"You have the right to slap me, slap both of us," Ron admitted looking down.

"She has the right to not ever speak to you again," Hermione added.

"Just keep rubbing it in," Harry said with a smile. Both she and Ginny grinned and Hermione felt another burst of happiness. Everyone was friends again. Ginny's parents were arriving in a few hours and Hermione's own parents were coming by train and would be here the next day. Everything was going to be great from now on, Hermione could just feel it.

Ginny leaned forward and kissed Hermione again, her lips softly pressing against Hermione's. Heaven, that's what love was.

**A/N: Sorry for taking so long in getting this up! This chapter took a bit longer for me to write as it's the most complicated of them all. And I've been really busy with school, last day is this Friday! Hope you guys haven't forgotten about it yet! This is the end, there won't be any more unless for some odd reason I come with an idea for a sequel, but if I do it probably won't be for many months or a year. I like this one the way it is though, just like this. I'd like to dedicate this chapter to those reviewers who were there since early on in the story and offered great support to me as I was writing, giving me inspiration when writer's block took a hold.**

**Missa07**

**s3xy-Lady**

**snowbear**

**LunaML**

**Risifruttiii**

**Thursday Pollum**

**Alice Dodgeson**

**slytherinqueen525**

**theinfamousredflag**


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